Should Blazers Sign Jerami Grant to Extension?

The Portland Trail Blazers have to make a decision very soon on Jerami Grant’s future.

That decision was the subject of discussion on the latest episode of Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective Podcast, where Windhorst and guest Bobby Marks discussed Grant’s upcoming free agency and fit with the Blazers.

“One of the reasons why Detroit traded him was because I don’t think that they were comfortable with giving him the type of extension that he wanted,” Windhorst said. “So he’s gone to Portland, they’ve been up and down, injury-related though, but he’s been a good pickup for them. Definitely a value pickup for what they sent to Detroit for him. He’s a free agent if you let him go. I’m not sure what his market is gonna be, but he has real value there, and I think Dame Lillard likes playing with him, and that’s a factor in this.”

“Big wings are a premium,” Marks said. He’ll be 29 when free agency hits here. His is interesting because right now he’s only eligible for 2-years, $45 million. But that changes this upcoming Saturday, that changes to 4-years, $112 million, because that six-month from the trade now will be lifted.

“If Joe Cronin puts that in front of him, I think he’ll sign it.”

The decision could come this weekend, where the Blazers can offer Grant a max contract at $28 million per year, or the team could roll the dice, wait until the summer, and risk him signing with a different team.

Grant has proven to be a key member of the Blazers this season, even scoring 36 against his former team in Monday night’s win against the Detroit Pistons. He is averaging a career-high 22.4 points per game, numbers that could be worthy of an extension worth a ton of money.

However, with the Blazers already inking Damian Lillard, Anfernee Simons and Jusuf Nurkic to long, pricy contracts this past summer, Portland could be locking itself in with this core for the foreseeable future, one that might not be on the level of the rest of the Western Conference contenders, making this a tricky decision.

What do you think BE community? Would you sign Grant to a contract extension?