Portland Trail Blazers Rumors: CJ McCollum won’t be traded this offseason

According to Jason Quick of The Athletic, the Portland Trail Blazers have not been engaging with teams in trade talks centered around CJ McCollum.

Here’s what Quick had to say about his understanding of the situation and how the Blazers brass has gone about the offseason:

"…it sounds like Portland is not actively shopping McCollum. I don’t know whether that is because Portland doesn’t agree with how teams value McCollum, or whether Neil Olshey is overly infatuated with him, but the general tone I’ve heard is the Blazers won’t move him just to have a different look next season. The trade has to make them better, and so far, other teams haven’t met that bar."

Whether or not this is a fair assessment, it does seem clear that McCollum won’t be moved this offseason, or possibly even this year.

With Damian Lillard pressing for major change, when can we expect the Portland Trail Blazers to trade CJ McCollum?

Damian Lillard has made it abundantly clear that he hasn’t been happy with the amount of talent around him in Rip City or how the front office has tried to address the weaknesses in the roster.

In response, General Manager Neil Olshey went out and added two unproven rookies, journeyman wing Tony Snell, mediocre center Cody Zeller, and nearly-out-of-the-league shooter Ben McLemore.

In what was supposed to be the most important offseason for the Portland Trail Blazers in a long time, Olshey has made marginal moves as if the team were a piece or two away from contending for a championship. Aside from a “revamped” bench, the team will be running it back next year, just with a new coach at the helm.

It’s become clear that Olshey expects new Head Coach Chauncey Billups to turn last year’s team that lost in the first-round into true championship threats. It’s also known now that he expects a way heavier return for McCollum than other teams deem of fair value.

No matter how well Billups performs to start his head coaching career, I can’t see a future where the Blazers are deemed true contenders before the trade deadline. Olshey’s seat should only grow hotter as the 2021-2022 season progresses. With little option to improve the roster outside of trading CJ, I would expect McCollum to be moved before the deadline passes.