CJ McCollum Traded to the New Orleans Pelicans

With the trade deadline coming up on Thursday there has been a lot of buzz going around. Recently, there have been talks about James Harden, Ben Simmons, Domantas Sabonis, and the Sacramento Kings possibly making a deal. But today, a major trade has happened. Former Most Improved player and all-star CJ McCollum has been traded to the New Orleans Pelicans for exchange of multiple players and draft picks.

The breakdown of the trade is this: Portland will be sending McCollum, Larry Nance Jr, and Tony Snell to New Orleans in exchange for, Josh Hart, Tomas Satoransky, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Didi Louzada, a 5-14 protected 2022 first-round pick, and two-second rounds picks. This shows that the Trailblazers want to rebuild their franchise, start fresh, draft well and see if they have a chance to win a ring in the next 5-10 years. Then for New Orleans, they are looking to have as many stars on their team as they can. With the acquisition of shooting guard CJ McCollum, they have built a strong possible big three. This being, Brandom Ingram, CJ, and Zion Williamson.

The Portland Trail Blazers need a rebuild, although they have made the playoffs every single year since McCollum was drafted in 2013, they have not been successful in the postseason. With only one conference championship berth, and five first-round exits. So if they gather the right young pieces for their franchise in this rebuild, it can change and they can win a championship.

McCollum has been a key part of Portland, and it should equate to the Pelicans as well. On the season he is averaging, 20.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.5 assists per game. Meaning, that this addition should lead New Orleans to the playoffs this year.

What does this mean for all-pro point guard Damian Lillard? Portland does plan on keeping Lillard and building the roster around him. With all of these trades that the Trailblazers are doing (like sending out Covington and Powell), they have freed up around $60 million in cap space to hunt for their new core players in free agency like James Harden and Kyrie Irving.

Gabe Barile

Gabriel Takes