Lakers rumors: Pros and cons of Lakers potentially trading for Jerami Grant

Con: Injury History + Contract Length

The Los Angeles Lakers are approaching the 2024-25 regular season with a less-than-ideal salary cap situation. D'Angelo Russell has an expiring $18,692,307 player option and LeBron James reserves the right to enter free agency next summer, as well, but the Lakers are tied up in long-term contracts.

Jerami Grant is a high-level player, but the 30-year-old forward is also entering the second season of a five-year, $160 million deal that Los Angeles isn't ideally positioned to take on.

Los Angeles can match salaries and technically get a trade done, but the long-term ramifications of adding Grant would be significant. He's playing on a backloaded contract, meaning his annual salary will increase with each passing season.

That peaks in 2027-28, when Grant will have a player option worth $36,413,790—and there's no guaranteeing that he'll opt out at that time.

With four seasons left on his deal at a hefty price, trading for Grant means mortgaging the future on his health and quality of play. The salary cap continues to increase, and that could soften the blow of his deal, but the reality remains that he controls his own financial destiny through 2028.

If Grant's injury woes persist, that could mean having upwards of $30 million per season weighing the Lakers down as Anthony Davis looks to extend his prime into his mid-30s.

Grant is worth a trade for what he does on the court, but health concerns and long-term lucrative contracts rarely combine to create a positive outcome.