Houston Rockets land Jerami Grant in outrageous trade proposal

Ugh.

Ugh.

I don’t know how to write this without being mean. I’m abandoning the third person pretense for this piece – I’ll stick with this one.

Bleacher Report just made another trade suggestion for the Houston Rockets. I could ignore it! Still, it’s hard to write for a Rockets page and not post an article about this deal. Before we go any further, let’s look at the trade.

My God. There is no nice way to say this:

It’s atrocious.

There are several reasons why I feel compelled to gut this deal. For starters, if I can provide even one drop of “don’t make this deal” in the “deals the Rockets could make” category, rest assured I’m providing my input.

Let’s start with a less important reason. Sure, Brooks’ contract is mediocre. Grant is an albatross. He is expected to make about $9 million more than the $20 million Brooks will make in 2024-25, and his salary will increase to $36 million by 2027-28.

The Rockets can afford this deal now. They also have six young players who all hope to earn comparable money from their rookie-scale extensions. Soon, the extra money Grant makes compared to Brooks will turn their capital into a bloodbath.

About these young players…

Let’s look at Eason’s first two seasons compared to Grant’s.

After all, it’s a reasonable comparison. Grant began his career on the Sixers tanks. Eason began his career on the Rockets tanks.

Despite Houston’s attempt to lose games, Eason managed a Box Plus/Minus (BPM) of -1.7 as a rookie. Before he was injured last year, he had reached 1.6.

In contrast, Grant’s BPM for the rookie season was -3.3. It’s a bad mark, but it’s not a stain on Grant. Playing for a tanking team will lower your compound stats. Still, it’s to Eason’s credit that he managed to hit the mark he did as a rookie.

In fact, Eason’s 1.6 mark as a sophomore would be Grant’s career best BPM. Stop what you’re doing and reread this:

Eason’s 1.6 mark as a sophomore would be Grant’s career-best BPM.

This is in no way an in-depth scientific analysis. There are caveats. Grant is a more competent shot maker than Eason. Sometimes these metrics can shine on players with minimal offensive responsibilities.

Still, that’s exactly what the Rockets want Eason to be. He is poised to become a very notable player in his career.

Why would the Rockets turn him into an overpaid veteran whose impact he’s likely to soon outgrow — if he hasn’t already? So they could lose 11 spots in the draft?

There is some very rudimentary logic to this agreement. Grant is better than Brooks. The Rockets want to improve and the Blazers are rebuilding. This is where the logic ends. Handing Portland a potentially (likely, maybe even) elite player on a silver platter, accepting an inflated contract, and dropping down in the draft in one fell swoop would be a disaster for the Rockets.

Rating: F-