Ja Morant’s absence from his exit interview led many to believe the end was near. The Memphis Grizzlies had a poor season, coinciding with the exit of former franchise player Jaren Jackson Jr. With the 2026 NBA offseason in full swing, the Grizzlies have traded Ja Morant to the Portland Trail Blazers- closing the book on his seven-year run with the franchise that drafted him.

The Grizzlies traded two-time All-Star Morant to the Blazers for Jerami Grant and Kris Murray. The Grizzlies have now traded all three of their former franchise cornerstones: Morant, Desmond Bane, and Jackson Jr., since being swept by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round of the 2025 playoffs. Portland, meanwhile, acquired a player Yahoo Sports analyst Kevin O’Connor identified as a means to a much larger end.

“Acquiring Ja Morant feels like a set-up trade to me given all the Jaylen Brown rumors in Portland,” O’Connor wrote on X. “Now the Blazers could feel more comfortable sending Jrue Holiday, Scoot Henderson, and Shaedon Sharpe with draft picks to Boston for Jaylen Brown. We’ll see what happens.”

Before the Ja Morant trade, Grant’s $34.2 million salary was always viewed as the contract most likely to be included in a deal that required substantial matching salary heading out of the building.

With Grant gone to Memphis, the Blazers have cleared the largest anchor from their books and replaced him with a player whose contract, two years at $42 million and $45 million, respectively, is tradeable and whose basketball value, however diminished, remains above zero.

The salary table that now exists for a Jaylen Brown pursuit tells the story. Holiday at $34.8 million, Sharpe at $20.1 million, Henderson at $13.6 million, and Camara at $18.1 million, contracts that can be combined to match Brown and Sam Hauser’s $67.9 million heading to Portland. Boston receives $68.4 million in return, a near-exact match that requires no third team.

Morant arrives in Portland with two years and approximately $87 million remaining on his maximum rookie extension. He’ll join a backcourt that already includes Damian Lillard and Jrue Holiday.

The Blazers went 42-40 last season and made the playoffs for the first time since 2021; adding Morant, Holiday, Scoot Henderson, and Sharpe creates a four-guard, making follow-up trades not just possible but structurally necessary.

The Jaylen Brown Deal, What a Portland Deal Would Actually Look Like

The trade idea – Holiday, Sharpe, Henderson, and draft compensation going to Boston; Jaylen Brown and Hauser returning to Portland – works financially without requiring additional teams or any complex multi-way structures.

O’Connor previously reported Portland as one of several teams still actively involved in Brown conversations, alongside the Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers. The Blazers are not starting the Jaylen Brown pursuit – they are re-entering it from a stronger position.

From Boston’s perspective, Holiday, at $34.8 million, provides an experienced defensive guard who has already won a championship with the Celtics and deeply understands Joe Mazzulla’s system.

He can slot seamlessly into the Jayson Tatum era as a two-way starter who doesn’t demand the ball. Sharpe, at 23, adds youth and upside. Henderson, despite an inconsistent start to his NBA career, remains a high-ceiling athlete on a manageable contract.

Celtic president Brad Stevens has been operating under a mandate to reshape the roster this summer. Tatum enters the final two years of his deal, and the franchise cannot afford another first-round exit like the one against Philadelphia last season.