Los Angeles Lakers receive: Jerami Grant and Duop Reath

Portland Trail Blazers receive: D’Angelo Russell, Jarred Vanderbilt, Jalen Hood-Schifino, a 2029 first-round pick and a 2025 second-round pick (via LAC)

The Lakers have kept surprisingly quiet this offseason. Sure, they plucked new coach JJ Redick out of the broadcast booth, perhaps snagged the draft’s biggest steal in Dalton Knecht and made a history-making pick late in the second round, but the “greater or bigger swing” Lakers fans were promised after an uneventful trade deadline never happened.

There’s still time to get a ceiling-raising deal done, though, and adding Grant should qualify.

His stats have been a bit inflated by suiting up for some cellar-dwellers in recent seasons, but there are only so many ways to nitpick his 2023-24 average of 21 points per game when it was enhanced by an efficient 45.1/40.2/81.7 shooting slash. His volume would decrease while lining up alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis, but Grant could become more efficient on offense and more active on defense.

As a third option—or even fourth if Austin Reaves authors a breakout effort—Grant is more than equipped for the job. He could function as almost a turbo-charged three-and-D forward, providing more slashing and self-sufficient scoring than the label normally applies.

In this hypothetical trade, he’d also be accompanied by the intriguing Reath, who’d have a real chance at assuming the backup 5 role behind Davis. Reath turned plenty of heads last season as a 27-year-old rookie, namely with his unique blend of three-point shooting (2.6 per 36 minutes with a 35.9 percent conversion rate) and shot-blocking (1.1 per 36 minutes).

Portland, meanwhile, has presumably been itching to unload the pricey pact Grant signed last summer—right before Damian Lillard left—and L.A. has surfaced as a possible landing spot.

The Blazers would have little use for Russell beyond his expiring $18.7 million salary, but they could covet Vanderbilt as a defensive complement to Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe. Portland could also take a long look at Hood-Schifino, last year’s No. 17 pick, while adding two draft assets to help with its post-Lillard overhaul.