Rip City Project Roundtable: Evaluating the Portland Trail Blazers 2019 Offseason

Huge extensions for Dame and CJ

Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum have both earned their pay days after everything they’ve contributed for the Portland Trail Blazers. That being said, tying up $296 million two years before their current contracts can be risky. Was this the right move to make?

Brown: Yes, the Blazers star-studded backcourt is sitting in the midst of its prime and the Blazers should do whatever it takes to keep these two together. Every year we see an improvement out of these two and I am very excited to watch these two pass through their late twenties and into their early thirties.

Carroll: The answer remains to be seen. In the short-term, it keeps the team competitive and at the very least Portland won’t have to worry about a media storm surrounding their impending free agency. As a bonus, signing the pair this early cut an extra year off their extension, which is great news considering we won’t be wanting to pay a 35-year-old Lillard in excess of $55 million. If we can win a title, everyone would agree this extension is worth it. But it’s probably a deal worth making anyways to ensure Dame goes down as the greatest player in franchise history.

West: Yes, it’s a lot of money though. Lillard is on the books for $54 million in the last year of that deal which is crazy to think about. Aside from injury, I don’t see a scenario in which the Blazers regret it next year and wish they had waited. If they regret them at any point it’d be at the end of those contracts, but Dame and CJ can probably stay at or around their current levels till the end of those deals and that’s what the Blazers are betting on.