Lakers’ Dreams Of Pulling Off Major Trade Reportedly Hit Road Block

Another obstacle has emerged to the Los Angeles Lakers making a long-rumored trade for an upgrade on the wing.

Despite the Portland Trail Blazers' inevitable status as Western Conference bottom-dwellers again this season, veteran wing Jerami Grant is apparently wary of leaving Rip City.

"Few players want to face the general uncertainty of moving midseason, especially those who have enjoyed newfound stability for the first time in their careers," Jake Fischer of Yahoo! Sports reported on Monday. "That has been the same word about Portland forward Jerami Grant , sources said, despite rival teams' interest in the veteran Trail Blazer."

Grant's exit from Portland has been anticipated pretty much ever since he put pen to paper on a five-year, $160 million contract with the Blazers in free agency last summer, mere hours before franchise player Damian Lillard requested a trade that was eventually granted.

Portland has reportedly been driving a hard bargain for Grant in preliminary trade discussions, seeking multiple valuable assets in return for parting with him. But that asking price largely ignores the onerous time and money remaining on Grant's contract, not to mention that the young, rebuilding Blazers aren't exactly entering negotiations from a position of strength.

Talks between Los Angeles and Portland regarding Grant will no doubt continue from here. If the February 6 trade deadline comes and goes with him remaining with the Blazers, though, add Grant's reported reluctance to bail on Rip City to the list of reasons the Lakers missed out on him once again.

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