The Portland Trail Blazers reportedly traded Kris Murray and Jerami Grant to the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday for Ja Morant.
After a 2026 first-round exit, their first playoff appearance since 2021, the Blazers are hoping the two-time All-Star could push them deeper into the postseason.
While there is some excitement in Rip City, Bill Oram, a longtime sports columnist of “The Oregonian,” could not disagree more with the trade.
Trail Blazers’ Ja Morant Trade Draws Harsh Verdict From Veteran Columnist
Since his second All-Star selection in 2023, Morant has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons.
In March that year, he was suspended for eight games for brandishing a gun on Instagram Live. Roughly three months later, the league came down hard on Morant, giving him a 25-game suspension to open the 2023-24 season.
The point guard was spotted on IG Live again, flexing a weapon.
Morant’s past controversies prompted Oram to express his frustrations after NBA insider Shams Charania announced the trade.
“My column on the worst trade in Trail Blazers history – even knowing that they gave up next to nothing,” Oram wrote.
My column on the worst trade in Trail Blazers history – even knowing that they gave up next to nothing. https://t.co/P3sZRBO34d
– Bill Oram (@billoram) June 30, 2026
In Oram’s article, he wrote:
“So trading for Morant, regardless of the price tag or the skillset, is every bit as tone-deaf as (team governor) Dundon asking taxpayers to fund the Moda Center renovations or giving coach Micah Nori an unheard-of trial contract. Nothing will drive a greater wedge between this franchise and its city than a player whom they cannot bring themselves to cheer for.”
In his column, Oram recalled the “Untold: Jail Blazers,” a Netflix documentary about the team during the late 90s and early 2000s.
With stars like Rasheed Wallace, Damon Stoudamire, Sebastian Telfair, Zach Randolph, and others, the Blazers were legitimate championship contenders.
But due to off-court issues that involved guns, drugs, domestic trouble, and arrests, the team routinely fell below expectations. Oram remembered how Blazers supporters turned their backs on the team’s stars.
Oram added:
“While those earlier incidents were more than 20 years ago, fandom doesn’t offer mercy in the form of a statute of limitations. Trading for a figure of Morant’s low stature signals that the Trail Blazers are now willing to forgive the kind of baggage from which they spent decades distancing themselves.”
The 2024 Oregon Sportswriter of the Year emphasized that he knew Blazers’ majority stakeholder, Tom Dundon, watched the documentary, and yet decided to trade for Morant.
Giving up Grant and Murray was noteworthy for the columnist, but continued that “adding Morant pushes them further away (from championship contention).”
Morant’s off-court troubles weren’t the only issues that reportedly prevented the Grizzlies from trading him before the February deadline.
The 26-year-old has been dealing with a variety of injuries, including a left UCL elbow sprain that cut short his 2025-26 campaign.
MORE: Grade the Ja Morant Trade: Who Won the Blockbuster Deal Between the Blazers and Grizzlies?
Questions about Morant’s fit with the team stand out as well. The athletic guard is a career 31.1% shooter from deep. He joins a backcourt that has Scoot Henderson (34.3%), another player struggling from that distance.
With Damian Lillard set to return from a torn left Achilles tendon and Jrue Holiday and Shaedon Sharpe on the team, there is now a logjam in Portland’s backcourt.
More than the basketball concerns, Oram couldn’t hold back in his conviction that acquiring an “impetuous,” and “unreliable” star, whom he labeled a “basketball pariah,” was the worst trade the Trail Blazers have made in franchise history.
