Report: 76ers trade Jerami Grant to Thunder for Ersan Ilyasova, draft pick
A deal has been made just a week into the season!
•
1 min read
The Oklahoma City Thunder got younger and more athletic on Tuesday by acquiring forward Jerami Grant from the Philadelphia 76ers, according to The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski. In return, Philadelphia will reportedly receive veteran stretch 4 Ersan Ilyasova and a conditional first-round pick. The Thunder have been going after Grant "for several months," according to the Vertical.
For the Thunder, Ilyasova was supposed to be their Serge Ibaka replacement in terms of spacing the floor at the 4 spot. He lost the starting job to rookie Domantas Sabonis, however, and perhaps Oklahoma City decided that his defensive shortcomings make him a bad fit going forward. Grant, 22, is an unpolished but exciting prospect who makes sense if the Thunder want to be a fast, defense-first, transition-oriented team. His jump shot is erratic, but he can block shots, run the floor and defend multiple positions. He's also on a much cheaper contract than Ilyasova -- as The Vertical's Bobby Marks pointed out, this puts Oklahoma City $7.3 million under the salary cap.
In Ilyasova, Philadelphia has gained a shooter. That's a glaring weakness on the roster, and Bryan Colangelo's front office was willing to part with a prospect in order to address it. In the short-term, he will make the offense more functional. In the long-term, he probably won't be there ... but that's part of the point. Ilyasova will be a free agent next summer, and letting him walk will help the Sixers clear their frontcourt logjam. As a bonus, they'll get a first-round pick in the 20s in 2020 or a pair of second-round picks that will convey in 2022 and 2023, per the Philadelphia Inquirer's Keith Pompey.
Everyone knows what kind of player Ilyasova is. The big question here is what the Thunder's player development program can do with Grant over the next couple of years. In the meantime, unless Grant can consistently knock down 3-pointers, Oklahoma City will have its own shooting concerns.
