A Day After Portland Trail Blazers send Norman Powell and Robert Covington to the Los Angeles ClippersUSA Today’s Mike Scotto HoopsHype reported on Saturday that NBA executives believe CJ McCollum of the Trail Blazers is also available commercially.
According to Scotto, the New Orleans Pelicans and Dallas Mavericks are among the teams expected to be interested in acquiring McCollum.
McCollum, 30, spent his entire career in Portland after he was called up in the first round by the team in 2013. After a slow start to his career, he entered the team. The Trail Blazers started the 2015-16 season and earned the NBA Most Improved Player award as he averaged 20.8 points, 4.3 assists and 3.2 rebounds. Those numbers held steady with McCollum averaging between 21.0 and 23.1 points each of the next five seasons.
While he’s always been a productive player for the Trail Blazers, the arrival of shooting guard Anfernee Simons could put McCollum in a possible kill. Simons was first choice in 2018 and the 22-year-old has broken through this year with 15.7 points and 3.7 assists per game. During Saturday’s press conference, Trail Blazers Interim General Manager Joe Cronin described Simons as a “core part” for the group to move forward.
The Trail Blazers are currently 21-32 and sit in tenth place in the Western Conference. McCollum signed a three-year, $100 million contract extension with Portland in 2019 and will come due over $69 million over the next two seasons.
