Indiana Pacers/Portland Trail Blazers trade #2: The Blazers bid a fond farewell to a great player
I hope grapes grow in Indiana. This would actually be a great basketball move for McCollum — he’d step in as the Pacers best and most accomplished player and should take on the alpha scoring and team leader roles right away.
Indianapolis is a wonderful basketball city and this feels like a great fit for a player who has done everything the Blazers have asked for in his eight-plus seasons. He’ll be missed as a teammate and a citizen, but it seems inevitable that if the Blazers are going to make a big change that he’ll have to be part of it.
I fully expect McCollum to be dealt before the deadline, and hopefully it will be timed so the Moda Center crowd can give him a fitting farewell. But whether that happens or not, you can certainly expect him to sign a ten-day contract with the Blazers when his playing time has ended and see his jersey hung from the rafters.
LeVert and Lillard aren’t the fear-inducing pair McCollum and Lillard have been, but LeVert’s on-ball defense and quick hands would take the pressure off the besieged Blazer frontcourt and free up Powell and Little to patrol the wings.
Martin is here as salary cap filler, and would take his place at the end of the bench in between Keljin Blevins and Trendon Watford.