2. Jerami Grant is not as good as you might think
I might get some pushback on this but Jerami Grant might just be one of the more overrated players in the league. Don’t get me wrong, he has a lot of value as a role player in a title-contending rotation but that is all he would be: a glorified role player. Grant’s numbers are a bit misleading and he wouldn’t have the kind of impact on the Lakers that some may expect.
Grant is a classic good stats on a bad team player. Prior to joining the Detroit Pistons he contributed in moderation. As soon as Detroit inked him to his new deal all of his averages went up as he was playing in games that, quite frankly, meant nothing alongside players who are not that good.
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Sure, it looks good that Grant has averaged over 20 points per game the last two years but he has not been efficient in the slightest in those two seasons. Grant has an effective field goal percentage under 50% in the last two years. For comparison’s sake, Kyle Kuzma was at 53.3% last season and that was not all that efficient.
Grant cannot stretch the floor consistently and he is not that great of a defender, either. Grant is a glorified version of Kuzma and might even be a lesser version of Kuzma. If you put Kuzma on the Pistons would he score 20 per game? Probably.
The Lakers would be trading for someone who would have a near-identical impact on the team as Kyle Kuzma last season. That certainly is a positive impact, but it is not as big of an impact as some would expect because of his name.