To understand Jerami Grant’s decision to come to Detroit as a free agent this offseason, you must first learn about the two separate entities that make up who he is.
There’s Jerami Grant, the player, who
since high school has toiled in the shadows of others and was seeking a larger role. There’s Jerami Grant, the NBA player, who chose development over instant gratification. Grant left a Denver Nuggets team that offered him title contention and a defined role. Comfort. Detroit offered him a chance to spread his wings, to prove that he can do more than his previous bosses allowed. Growth.
Grant was a 2014 second-round draft pick of the 76ers. And for the first time in his career, after being traded from Philadelphia to Oklahoma City and then from Oklahoma City to Denver, Grant was able to control his own livelihood.
“I think it’s hard for fans to understand (leaving a winning situation), but I don’t think it’s hard for players to get,” Grant told
The Athletic. “I think it is difficult for people who don’t play to understand because they don’t look at it from the same angle or same point of view as a player would.”
Now, to understand the other reason Grant is with the Pistons, the one that hasn’t been public, can’t be written into a $60 million contract or be quantified by minutes played, you must first learn about the 26-year-old Black man. The one who grew up with parents who never forgot to preach self-worth to their four children, who taught them how to navigate and be aware in a world that “isn’t really on our side.”
It’s the same person who spends time away from basketball studying Black leaders and the history of racial inequality in the United States.
“I was a Black man before I was a basketball player,” Grant said.
So it’s no coincidence that Grant’s home for the next three years is also, statistically, the blackest major city in America. It’s no coincidence that he’s playing for Dwane Casey and Troy Weaver. Casey is one of only seven Black head coaches in the NBA, and Weaver is one of 10 Black general managers. Together, Casey and Weaver are one of only five Black coach-GM tandems in the league.
Grant, the player, wanted to show that he has more to offer. Grant, the Black man, wanted to play for people in leadership positions who look like him and share similar experiences. Before arriving in Detroit, he had never played for a Black head coach in the NBA. He had played previously under Weaver, though, who was Oklahoma City’s assistant GM during Grant’s 2016-19 tenure.
“Whether it’s on the court or off, there’s a sense of understanding that you get from — and I’m not going to say all, but a majority — Black people who have gone through and are going through some of the struggles that we do,” Grant said. “I think that gives you a better connection, makes it a little easier and makes you feel better about yourself when you have people that look like you around.
“Being around Troy, knowing how Troy is, what he stands for … meeting Coach Casey and understanding how he is, that played a big role in it. I know what Troy stands for and how he’s going to move throughout his tenure here.”
The deaths of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd at the hands of police officers led Grant, and other pro athletes, to speak out against racial and social injustices in 2020. The protests reached a peak in August, when the Milwaukee Bucks boycotted Game 5 of their first-round playoff series against the Orlando Magic following the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wis.
While in the NBA’s Orlando bubble with the Nuggets, Grant quickly sidestepped basketball-related questions to let the world know that “Breonna Taylor’s killers are still roaming around free.” In all inquiries, he focused on being the voice for those who no longer had one.
Grant’s desire to evoke change manifested with his parents. His father, Harvey, an 11-year NBA vet, and mother, Beverly, regularly told their children to think not just about themselves and their experiences, but also the impact they could have on later generations.
“Back in my day, we could say stuff, but there would be consequences,” Harvey Grant told
The Athletic. “I tell my kids all the time: use your platform, use your voice. What you do now or don’t do is going to affect not just you, but your kids and your grandkids.
“What Jerami did, guys like LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, and even the NBA, WNBA, NFL, MLB … I applaud them.”
Since his youth, Grant has studied African-American leaders like Malcolm X and Frederick Douglass. An avid reader, Grant’s favorite book is “The Autobiography of Malcolm X.” The literary classic details the activist’s life, including his conversion from Harlem hustler, to a militant figurehead, to a more conservative teacher of Islam later in life.
For Grant, Malcolm X’s transformation in those later years is what struck a chord. The ability to alter one’s approach and grow in the midst of navigating life’s hardships is something that Grant admired and lives by today.
“Even though he was committed to the Nation of Islam and our community, even at the end of his life, he figured out he wasn’t moving the right way and he changed,” Grant said of Malcolm X. “His ability to change and move in a different way, to overcome a lot of different circumstances, really touched me because we all go through different adversities. The way he stayed true to himself, regardless of situation, is what I liked.”
As Grant grew older and became more exposed and cognizant of social injustices and inequalities in the world, his father started noticing a shift. As he wrapped up his Syracuse playing days and began preparing for the NBA, Jerami became even more interested in the history of Black people, where they come from and the evolution of race in America. He became more interested in helping effect change than just reading about it.
As a result, and as the NBA’s bubble showed, Grant has slowly begun to step into the spotlight to show the rest of the world what he is, in fact, really about.
“I told him, ‘You have to be you,'” Harvey Grant said. “Myself and their mom have always tried to instill in them that you are who you are.”
In 2012, Jerami Grant created Hour Generation Foundation, whose goal is to “inspire and empower youth to explore their talents by providing information, advocacy and service allowing them to maximize their potential and realize their special gifts.”
The foundation is based in Maryland, where Grant played for DeMatha Catholic High School, and it holds events such as Thanksgiving and Christmas giveaways for inner-city communities and youth. Grant attends events when his work schedule allows; otherwise, his family helps run things.
Grant plans on stretching his foundation’s activities to Detroit, but COVID-19 has prevented him from beginning to act on projects. His goal, though, is to be active in the community while being the face of an organization that recently returned to its city roots. After decades in suburban Auburn Hills, Mich., the Pistons’ headquarters and game arena are now back in Detroit.
“I have some things cooking right now,” Grant said. “I’ll let you know when they do come out.”
Grant didn’t just come to the Pistons to assist in pulling its professional basketball teams out of the abyss. He also came to be surrounded by people in leadership positions who look like him, to connect with a city that has been built upon both Black plight and Black excellence.
Becoming a Piston was about challenging Jerami Grant the basketball player. But uprooting to Detroit was about satisfying the other Jerami Grant, the part of him that’ll resonate far longer than his NBA career.
