The “CJ McCollum Sweepstakes” Is Heating Up
The deal the Blazers got for Norman Powell and Robert Covington was definitely not the best deal they could have received for both players, but Portland did open up some cap space moving forward and now turn their attention to building a sustainable roster around Damian Lillard moving forward.
Portland now looks like a rebuilding franchise, which could mean the end of CJ McCollum’s time with the Trail Blazers.
After dealing Powell and Covington to the Clippers, the Trail Blazers have now turned their attention to the offers they have been receiving for their high-level shooting guard.
Early on in the season, a lot of the talk pertaining to the Trail Blazers was Lillard’s future with the franchise and while that is certainly still in doubt long-term, there were a lot of whispers about if the team would look to trade CJ McCollum at the trade deadline this season.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Clippers Pull Off Big Trade With Blazers For Powell, Covington
Now in his 9th NBA season with the Blazers, McCollum is under contract through the 2023-24 season and has proven to still be a high-level offensive talent. In 36 games this season with Portland, CJ McCollum has averaged 20.5 points, 4.5 assists and has shot 38.4% from three-point range.
While McCollum is not an All-Star, he is certainly a talented enough player to instantly help a playoff contending or playoff hopeful team in this league. Several teams across the league have been pursuing the veteran guard over the last month or so and the most prominent of them are the New Orleans Pelicans and the New York Knicks.
The Pelicans started the season 8-20 and their playoff hopes looked slim to none, but they have turned things around in recent weeks and have now jumped the Portland Trail Blazers for the 10-seed in the Western Conference.
Building around their core group of Brandon Ingram, Jonas Valanciunas and Zion Williamson, who has not played at all this season, is the main goal of the Pelicans and their front-office. Expected to be big “buyers” at the trade deadline in hopes of sealing a playoff spot in the West, the Pelicans are prepared to deal multiple young talents and draft picks to land a player of McCollum’s talents.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Clippers Pull Off Big Trade With Blazers For Powell, Covington
Josh Hart recently signed a three-year, $38 million extension with New Orleans in the offseason, but the team is making him available to Portland in trade talks centered around CJ McCollum, sources tell NBA Analysis Network.
A trade package of Josh Hart, Jaxson Hayes, Tomas Satoransky and a couple of first-round draft picks that they have from previous deals could very well be enough value for Portland to trade CJ McCollum and either Tony Snell/Ben McLemore to New Orleans. Not to mention, this is probably the best blend of young talent and draft picks the Blazers will receive in an offer for McCollum ahead of the deadline on Thursday.
New Orleans has zeroed in on CJ McCollum as their No. 1 trade target ahead of the trade deadline, but the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference have suddenly emerged as a serious contender to trade for Portland’s shooting guard, according to NBA Insider Marc Stein.
The 24-29 Knicks have struggled to find any consistency offensively all year long and the narrative in New York for years now has been that they are going to bring in a big named star either via trade or free agency.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Clippers Pull Off Big Trade With Blazers For Powell, Covington
New York is in desperate need of a playmaker and pure scorer in their backcourt and CJ McCollum would certainly fit in nicely for a team that has no dependable No. 1 scorer right now, especially in their backcourt.
Formulating a deal for McCollum would be difficult for the Knicks to do given their unwillingness to give up young talents such as Obi Toppin, Quentin Grimes and Immanuel Quickley, but it is possible that a three-player package of Kemba Walker, Nerlens Noel and Alec Burks, plus some first-round draft picks, could raise some eyebrows in Portland.
Walker has not been the best this season and has not looked like his former All-Star self, but maybe he could be a good fit as a backup behind Lillard and Simons for the Blazers. Not to mention, Noel could fill a void behind Nurkic in the rotation and could even take over for him since the veteran center is going to be an unrestricted free agent in the offseason.
Portland is not done making moves just yet and aside from CJ McCollum trade chatter, they are still interested in flipping newly acquired Eric Bledsoe for a draft pick or two if possible.
LATEST NBA NEWS & TRADE RUMORS: Clippers Pull Off Big Trade With Blazers For Powell, Covington
The Trail Blazers are going to be busy right up to 3 PM ET on Thursday and they could still very much trade away anyone other than Lillard or Simons on their roster.
