After nine seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, the sand may be running out in CJ McCollum’s hourglass.
Veteran NBA writer Marc Stein said this week on his Substack that there is growing speculation that the Blazers could finally be ready to break up the Lillard-CJ McCollum pairing. The reason is because young Portland guard Anfernee Simons has recently broken out, averaging 24.4 points and 7.1 assists per game in the month of January.
The implication here is that McCollum would potentially be the one to go since Lillard is obviously the Blazers’ franchise player. The two players have been together for nearly a decade now and appear to have hit their ceiling with a Western Conference Finals appearance in 2019. Portland has been downtrending since then, and their record this season is currently 21-28 with both McCollum and Lillard missing significant time due to injury.
As for Simons, he is a dynamic 22-year-old who can play either guard spot and hits the three consistently. That means he could easily fit with Lillard in a starting backcourt. McCollum, meanwhile, is in the first season of a three-year, $100 million contract, which makes him harder but not impossible to trade. This is also far from the first time that McCollum has been mentioned in trade rumors, which may intensify as the Feb. 10 deadline nears.
H/T CBS Sports
Photo: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports
