Portland Trail Blazers forward Jerami Grant has many reasons to be happy, at least 160 million of them.
Grant, 30, signed a five-year, $160 million contract with the Portland Trail Blazers on the first day of free agency, just before Damian Lillard requested a trade. The timing of the moves led CBS Sports writer Brad Botkin to list Grant among the worst contracts signed in free agency so far.
The only halfway reasonable explanation for the Blazers giving Grant a $160 million deal is that they knew losing Grant would equate to losing Lillard, so they overwhelmed him with not just huge money but a five-year commitment to eliminate even the remotest possibility of him leaving.