Zach Lowe Gives Lakers Fans Big Reason to Be Optimistic in the Trade Market

The Lakers are constantly in the midst of trade and free agency rumors, especially with LeBron James and Anthony Davis clearly in need of some help.

Until today, there hasn't been much recent news for the Lakers, with all eyes on the Olympics. But ESPN's Zach Lowe offered the Lakers a little more promise during a recent episode of his podcast, The Lowe Post.

Lowe strongly suggested that Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant ending up in LA was inevitable.

“Should we start printing Jerami Grant-Lakers jerseys, though?” Lowe asked during an interview with ESPN's Tim McMahon. “Should we just do it now? I think… I might order one.”

Did Zach Lowe just confirm Jerami Grant to the Lakers? pic.twitter.com/h7sgwd3oG0

— _____ (@SixthManJake) July 27, 2024

At 30 years old and on a five-year, $160 million contract, Grant would make a lot of sense on a winning team like the Lakers, as opposed to a young rebuilding team like the Blazers.

The question will be what Portland wants in exchange for Grant, and whether LA can offer enough.

The one trade chip the Lakers have is D'Angelo Russell, but according to The Athletic's Jovan Buha, Russell won't be a key piece this time around.

“I heard that Portland doesn't want D-Lo because they have a million guards,” Buha said on his “Buha's Block” podcast on July 26. “So, it doesn't really make sense to them.”

Speaking to Heavy Sports' Sean Deveney earlier this month, another Western Conference official talked about the complexities of making the Jermai Grant trade happen.

“Jerami Grant can play, he's a shooter, he's an active defender, once he's engaged, he'll do a lot of things to help your team. But he is the third way. He's had big numbers the last few years, but he's done it on terrible teams. Nobody's going to make a big trade for a guy that gives you 20 points on a bad team and 13 (points) on a good team.”

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