McCollum Traded to Pelicans

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   Full details of the CJ McCollum deal have now been confirmed. The Pelicans will be sending Josh Hart, Tomas Satoransky, Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Didi Louzada along with a protected 1st and 2 second round picks to the Trailblazers. The 1st round pick is 5 through 14 protected in 2022.

   In return, Portland is sending McCollum, Larry Nance Jr., and Tony Snell to New Orleans. McCollum was a focal piece of the Blazers offense since being drafted in 2013. While the team enjoyed regular season success since pairing the 30 year old guard with backcourt partner Damian Lillard, the postseason has been a different story altogether. 

   With one trip to the conference finals and multiple first round exits, the writing was on the wall in the Pacific Northwest. 

    The deal gives the Trailblazers a $20.8M trade exception, and drastically reduces the amount of salary they’ll have on the books moving forward as well. Portland now only has $68.6M in guaranteed contracts for next year after shedding McCollum’s $100 deal (which would see him make $30.9M this year, $33.3M in 2022-23, and $35.8M in 23-24), Nance’s $10.7M (owed another $9.7M in 2022-23) and Snell’s $2.4M.

   Meanwhile the Pelicans acquire a proven scorer in McCollum who, even in a down year, is averaging 20.5pts/4.3reb/4.5ast while shooting 38.4% from beyond the arc. While their window to compete hasn’t quite opened yet, the versatile guard will ease the scoring burden on Brandon Ingram as the Pels wait for Zion Williamson to be cleared to return to game action.

   Nance also becomes a nice piece that can play alongside Zion and help out defensively, an area where McCollum isn’t exactly amongst the league leaders. Snell is likely to play out the remainder of the year before hitting free agency. 

   Assuming the Pelicans don’t make any further moves and decide to build around their existing core, they’ll head into 2022-23 with a starting 5 of Devonte Graham, CJ McCollum, Brandon Ingram, Zion Williamson, and Jonas Valneciunas. Kira Lewis Jr. and Larry Nance figure to come off the bench and play roles in the Pelicans rotation.

   According to initial reports out of Portland, despite the McCollum trade, the Trailblazers are not expected to trade star PG Damian Lillard ahead of Thursday’s deadline.