Heading into the NBA trade deadline, one of the biggest question marks surrounded the New Orleans Pelicans and a potential big move that they could make. Being well under the tax line for the season and starting to show flashes of being a potential playoff team, the Pelicans looked to be aggressive in trade talks and they landed CJ McCollum from the Portland Trail Blazers. 

First reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Pelicans acquired CJ McCollum, Larry Nance Jr. and Tony Snell from Portland in exchange for Josh Hart, Tomas Satoransky, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Didi Louzada, a 2022 protected first-round pick and two second-round picks, one in 2026 and the other in 2027. 

McCollum, in the midst of his ninth NBA season, has spent his whole career with the Trail Blazers before being traded last week. Going into a full-fledged “rebuild” is something that Portland needed to do and while CJ McCollum had poured his heart out to the city of Portland, he was the only player they could leverage to get serious value for. 

In New Orleans, the need for another star next to Brandon Ingram was very apparent, especially given that Zion Williamson has not played at all this season. 

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As he continues to rehab from offseason foot surgery, the New Orleans Pelicans are optimistic that they will be getting Zion Williamson back at some point this season and with the addition of CJ McCollum, they should be right in the thick of things in regards to the Western Conference play-in tournament picture by the time Williamson is ready to make his season-debut.