Portland Trail Blazers Trade CJ McCollum to the Pelicans

CJ McCollum
CJ McCollum. Image via Frenchieinportland/Wikipedia

The Portland Trail Blazers have decided to tear apart their iconic backcourt of CJ McCollum and Damien Lillard. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Blazers have traded McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans for a package highlighted by Josh Hart, Nickeil Walker-Alexander, and a 2022 protected first-rounder.

Reportedly, Portland will also get guards Tomas Satoransky and Didi Louzada alongside two second-round selections as part of the deal. On the other hand, the Pelicans acquire forward Larry Nance Jr. and veteran Tony Snell alongside McCollum.

The Trail Blazers have been shopping McCollum for a while now, looking to reshape their roster after coming up short in the playoffs in recent seasons and seeing four first-round exits in the past five years. At one point, they were close to sending the NBA’s Most Improved Player from 2016 to the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for Ben Simmons, but the two teams couldn’t agree on a draft compensation included in the deal. After that, the market for McCollum dried up until the Pelicans picked up the phone to make the inquiry.

New Orleans was looking to add a reliable scoring threat recently, and it’s safe to say they have successfully completed the task with the acquisition of McCollum. The 30-year-old averaged 20+ points in each of the past six seasons and should comfortably clear the number in 2021-22 as well. In 36 games he played for Portland this season, he scored 20.5 points per contest while adding 4.2 rebounds and 4.5 assists.

On the other hand, Portland made the deal by having a long-term picture in mind. So while the deal won’t make them better at the moment, they have acquired tradable assets they can potentially flip into a difference-making player. Another benefit of the trade for them is that they are now more than $17 million under the tax. 

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