Portland Trail Blazers: Best 3 possible trades for CJ McCollum

Coach Terry Stotts has already been given the axe and the next big piece to move could be Portland Trail Blazers star guard CJ McCollum. CJ has been a Portland favorite for years with his underdog story, his knack for creating buckets out of thin air, and his hilarious fan interactions.

Damian Lillard and CJ have been interlocked for nearly a decade now, having grown and competed at a high level together for eight seasons.

Although it appears the star backcourt pairing has reached its absolute ceiling, general manager Neil Olshey and the Blazers brass will have a minefield to dance around if they mean to move on from McCollum. With how close Dame and CJ are, Olshey will have to guarantee that the trade brings them to title-contention status lest he ship off Lillard’s running mate for nothing.

The Portland Trail Blazers will have a tough task finding the perfect trade for CJ McCollum

Aside from the backcourt’s history and strong bond, there are other factors that may make it harder to find a suitable swap for CJ.

For one, CJ is not on an especially team friendly contract. According to Spotrac, McCollum will enter his new deal next season in which he’ll be paid upwards of $30 million for the next three years on a back-loaded contract.

Secondly, McCollum isn’t old but he’s probably close to his ceiling as a player, if he hasn’t hit it already. At 29 years old, he’s got plenty of time to contribute to any team, but a rebuilding team has no reason to trade for an All-Star level player who’ll turn 30 next season.

With all that in mind, the Blazers will have to find a team in playoff contention who could use CJ’s services, with a player available for trade who could raise the Blazers ceiling who matches McCollum’s contract. Obviously this will be no easy task, but it certainly isn’t impossible.

Here are the top three possible trades the Blazers could make using CJ McCollum: