{"id":200101,"date":"2026-06-12T08:00:19","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T12:00:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=200101"},"modified":"2026-06-11T20:21:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T00:21:13","slug":"ja-morant-trade-proposals-east","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2026\/06\/12\/ja-morant-trade-proposals-east\/","title":{"rendered":"Grading the Most Intriguing Ja Morant Trade Proposals to the East"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Memphis Grizzlies exploring a future without Ja Morant<\/a> remains one of the NBA’s most fascinating stories to watch this offseason. As the days count down until a trade decision is made, outlines of deals continue to circulate on social media. Some Ja Morant trade proposals to the East may appear more enticing than trading him within the Western Conference<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Despite his recent troubling injury history and other concerns, the chance of him regaining his mojo within their conference should be avoided if possible. Among the most interesting Eastern Conference concepts are deals with the Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, and Brooklyn Nets.<\/p>\n

Let’s grade each one from Memphis’ perspective.<\/p>\n

Grading the Most Intriguing Ja Morant Trade Proposals to the East<\/h2>\n

Miami Offers a “Help Me Help You” Swap<\/h3>\n

Bleacher Report offered a simple Morant trade proposal<\/a> with the Miami Heat, sending back Tyler Herro<\/a> with no other players or picks attached. The swap is similar to their other proposal of sending Morant to the Phoenix Suns for Jalen Green<\/a>. They both work nearly the same, too, with the Grizzlies receiving a 20-point-per-game shooting guard around the same age with a smaller contract than Morant’s.<\/p>\n

The difference is Herro is more experienced, and a decision has to be made with his contract (one year remaining) sooner than Green’s (two years remaining). At first glance, many Grizzlies fans may view the deal as underwhelming simply because Herro appears to be on the trade block himself. However, Herro is more efficient and consistent with his scoring and shooting. He could also provide value to either extend or trade as an expiring contract at next year’s deadline.<\/p>\n

From a rebuilding perspective, Herro would give Memphis<\/a> a proven young scorer who could be a great fit as one of the best shooters the franchise has ever had. The flexibility of his contract and ability make this proposal more attractive than many fans may realize.<\/p>\n

Grade: B+<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/smartframe-embed><\/p>\n

Toronto’s Package Brings Simplicity<\/h3>\n

NBA reporter Evan Sidery put together a couple of Morant trade proposals, including one with the Toronto Raptors<\/a>. His proposal included Morant joining his former assistant coach, Darko Rajakovic, for Immanuel Quickley<\/a> and Gradey Dick<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Quickley is a solid point guard who would immediately be a starter in Memphis, and he could revert to a high-level bench role if they land their point guard of the future in the draft. However, it would be a downgrade from Morant, which Memphis would hope to make up for with other parts of its roster.<\/p>\n

Dick has been a disappointment since he was drafted 13th overall three years ago. A new beginning could bring him a spark, but he would likely be a placeholder with one year remaining on his rookie contract. Quickley and Dick fit the rebuild timeline for the Grizzlies, and both have talent to offer. Would it be enough to satisfy Grizzlies fans? Likely not.<\/p>\n

Grade: C+<\/strong><\/p>\n

Brooklyn’s Proposal Is a Last Resort<\/h3>\n

Another Morant trade proposal from Evan Sidery involved the Brooklyn Nets<\/a>, with Memphis receiving Terance Mann<\/a> and the No. 33 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. Among all of the Morant trade proposals, this one is the easiest to dismiss. Mann is a respected veteran role player who brings professionalism, defense and versatility to a young team. But if he and a second-round pick are the best package Memphis can get for Morant, then the two-time All-Star’s value is truly lower than originally thought.<\/p>\n

Moving off Morant won’t be easy, and expecting high draft capital doesn’t feel feasible. However, even if Brooklyn attached additional assets, this framework still feels light compared to the value Memphis should seek. This is not the type of return that accelerates a rebuild or establishes a new core.<\/p>\n

On the flip side, Memphis<\/a> has a treasure trove of assets already, and if push comes to shove, trading Morant to the Eastern Conference could help stomach the lack of value in this deal. Trade proposals are what they are and don’t tell the story of what will transpire. But this would absolutely be a last resort deal and likely wouldn’t happen if it came to that point.<\/p>\n

Grade: C-<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a9 Petre Thomas-Imagn Images<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Memphis Grizzlies exploring a future without Ja Morant remains one of the NBA’s most fascinating stories to watch this offseason. As the days count down until a trade decision is made, outlines of deals continue to circulate on social media. Some Ja Morant trade proposals to the East may appear more enticing than trading […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5763,"featured_media":200164,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,6,32,16,62,4721],"tags":[4831,3178,1822,1892,1896],"class_list":["post-200101","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nets","category-grizzlies","category-heat","category-nba","category-trade-rumors","tag-gradey-dick","tag-immanuel-quickley","tag-ja-morant","tag-terance-mann","tag-tyler-herro"],"modified_by":"Jordan Pagkalinawan","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200101","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5763"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=200101"}],"version-history":[{"count":17,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200165,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/200101\/revisions\/200165"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/200164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=200101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=200101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=200101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}