The Los Angeles Lakers simultaneously held discussions with the Golden State Warriors for Klay Thompson and the Portland Trail Blazers for Jerami Grant, according to Lakers Daily’s Anthony Irwin.
Thompson has the fancier resume but Grant, who is four years younger, is the bigger and more athletic of the two wings who can add more size and scoring punch behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis in the Lakers’ frontline.
“I’m told the Lakers and Trail Blazers have been in consistent talks on a deal for Jerami Grant. I wouldn’t call it particularly imminent but the sides have definitely been active most of today,” Irwin tweeted on X on June 30.
According to salary cap expert Yossi Gozlan, the Lakers can trade for Grant and at the same time use their $12.9 million full midlevel exception if James follows through on his word of taking a paycut to add another impact free agent such as DeMar DeRozan.
Irwin, however, said the holdup in the Grant trade talks is the Lakers’ unwillingness to surrender two first-round picks. But this was before Thompson spurned them and chose to sign with the Dallas Mavericks instead.
The 30-year-old Grant shot 40% from the 3-point range and averaged above 20 points per game over his last two seasons with the Blazers. While Grant is not an elite lockdown defender, his 7-foot-2 wingspan and athleticism can certainly boost the Lakers’ perimeter defense.
Grant fits Redick’s philosophy of increasing the Lakers’ 3-point shooting while not sacrificing their defense.
But the Lakers view him as not an all-in move based on their reported reluctance to surrender both of their future first-round picks.
Why Klay Thompson Is Now a Maverick and Not a Laker
According to Irwin, the Lakers liked how their talk went with Thompson but getting the deal done required “a lot of work needed to be done to actually execute it.”
“For what it’s worth, Golden State not wanting players back was a real complicating factor for the Lakers too. They were trying to offer more money/years but with Golden State not wanting *anyone* back, yeah. Add to that Klay picking the Mavericks and here we are,” Irwin tweeted on X on July 1 after the Thompson deal with the Mavericks was widely reported.
The Warriors preferred the Mavericks, who were able to absorb Thompson into their $16.1 million trade exception created by the Tim Hardaway Jr. deal with the Detroit Pistons. They also picked up two future second-round picks without getting a salary in return.
D’Angelo Russell For DeMar DeRozan?
According to Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer, the Lakers may need to offload one of their point guards in a sign-and-trade scenario to acquire DeRozan.
“For the Lakers to bring on DeRozan, Los Angeles may have to work with a third team to offload some salary, such as D’Angelo Russell or Gabe Vincent, sources said. The Nets have been open to welcoming Russell back to Barclays Center since this past trade deadline, sources said,” Fischer wrote on July 1.
Russell opted into his $18.7 million player option while Vincent has two more years left on his three-year, $33 million contract.
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