The Portland Trail Blazers signed Jerami Grant to a five year, $160 million deal in July 2023, just as Damian Lillard asked to play his basketball elsewhere. The deal was largely panned by pundits, many surprised at the amount and shocked at the length.
While Grant had won a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, he was yet to sniff an All Star or All NBA honor when he arrived in Portland 12 months earlier. In fact, all he had proved was that he could handle high usage on a bad team while maintaining above-average defense.