With the Toronto Raptors’ sole focus appearing to be on bringing Kawhi Leonard back to Canada, Bobby Webster and company just missed out on the perfect buy-low swing.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported that the Memphis Grizzlies have traded Ja Morant to Portland in exchange for Jeremi Grant and Kris Murray. This deal brings an end to a nearly year-long saga, as Memphis can now cleanly enter a new era of Grizzlies basketball centered on the No. 3 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, Cam Boozer.
When rumors of Memphis shopping for Morant first picked up, the Raptors were one of the teams that were linked to the Murray State guard. But as the season progressed and Toronto moved into the offseason, that hype quickly died down.
While he may not have been a seamless fit and there are plenty of questions about Morant as a player and off the court, the discount the Trail Blazers got him at stings if you’re the Raptors.
Missing out on Ja Morant is something the Raptors will grow to regret
The simplest way to look at what the Blazers gave up for Morant is this: Grant equals a bad contract, and Murray is a low-upside young talent who wasn’t part of Portland's long-term plans.
If you’re Toronto, this offer could have been easily countered with a package of Immanuel Quickley and Gradey Dick. I understand that IQ is a score-first creator, which is the type of archetype you'd pair with a point forward like Scottie Barnes in a perfect world. But Morant’s upside as a pure talent outweighs any type of fit or cohesion that comes with Quickley. On top of that, while Morant is owed more money annually, he has one less year on his contract and would’ve given the Raptors more financial flexibility in the long run.
By the end of the second year in the league, he was arguably a top-five guard in the league and was viewed as someone the Grizzlies were going to build around for the next 10-plus years. Obviously, some off the court trouble and nagging injuries hindered that from becoming a reality, but Morant is still only 26 years old and hasn’t even truly hit his prime yet.
If Morant returns to that 26-27 points and 6-8 assists per game form he was in from 2021-23, they’ll undoubtedly be winners of this deal, and any team that didn’t buy-low on him will be a massive loser.
Portland knows they’re a small market and will likely never be some marquee free agent destination, and when the door opened to land a player with superstar upside for pennies, they took. The same way Toronto did when they traded for Brandon Ingram. So why did the Raptors not engage? Maybe because their sights are set on Kawhi Leonard? Or maybe they didn’t see a clean fit spacing-wise between Morant, Barnes, and Brandon Ingram?
Either way, I have a feeling Morant is set for major redemption in Portland, and the Raptors will soon regret not buying low on the former No. 2 pick.
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