A Portland Trail Blazers trade for Jerami Grant:
Okay so the only way that this trade makes any sort of sense money-wise is if Robert Covington is involved. The Blazers would be flipping half a season of Covington while replacing his minutes with Jerami Grant for another season. Even though the Blazers are bad, this is a good way for them to retain the asset rather than letting it go (although it would come at a price).
The problem is that the Pistons have no reason to want Covington. He is a dream for a contending team but does nothing for Detroit. Thus, that is why Detroit could loop in a third team that would really want Covington and would be willing to pay assets for it.
That is how we get to this three-team deal that makes sense for all three sides.
We already touched on why this makes sense from the Blazers’ standpoint. As far as the Warriors are concerned, Covington is the perfect type of player to put on that roster. He can be a lethal shooter as a catch and shoot option, especially in that offense, and is someone who plays really good defense at can be the small-ball center.
While Grant has a higher ceiling, Covington is much more valuable to the Warriors and their scheme than Grant would be. Grant would not be a great fit while Covington is the perfect fit. The Warriors would love to pull off a trade like this for Covington but the Blazers probably aren’t going to trade him for Moses Moody and a pick in the 20s but Detroit will.
All in all Detroit would get a recent lottery pick in Moody, some other assets that they can flip to contenders for second-round picks and two first-round picks all for Jerami Grant.
The Blazers get to retain the asset and the Warriors get a really scaring closing five of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Jordan Poole/Andrew Wiggins, Robert Covington and Draymond Green.