3 trades the Trail Blazers can make following CJ McCollum’s injury
By Joe Capraro
The Portland Trail Blazers’ CJ McCollum is out indefinitely with a collapsed lung. He had been a prime trade candidate all season, but the injury will affect his immediate value.
With the uncertainty surrounding such an injury, CJ McCollum has gone from a potential key help-us-now piece of a championship contender to an expensive glorified assistant coach. The Portland Trail Blazers two most tradeable assets are now the expiring contracts of Jusuf Nurkic ($12 million) and Robert Covington (just under $13 million).
Right behind them are the two young dynamos, Anfernee Simons and Nassir Little, who both come with team-friendly contracts — Simons through next season and Little for one more after that.
With that in mind, let’s look at three ways the Blazers could use those assets to stop their current 1-8 skid and get back into the championship conversation, or at least a playoff position.
The Layup: Converting expiring contracts to interior defense
Indiana was the first team to declare itself a seller in what will be the Great Bizarre Bazaar of 2022, officially putting Turner, Caris LeVert, and Domantas Sabonis on the trade table.
Blazers interim general manager Joe Cronin should be lighting up Chad Buchanan’s Snapchat in an attempt to get Turner to Portland. His defense and competitive fire would be helpful for the staggering Blazers, and Bitadze would help them maintain their bearded Eastern European roster quota of one.
Any rebuilding team would love to have the $25 million in expiring salaries, and the Blazers would be loaded up and ready to actually defend around the basket.
The sellers are declaring themselves in what may be a wild trade season, as an unprecedented number of stars are likely to be moved. Among them: Kyrie Irving, Bradley Beal, Ben Simmons, Jonas Valanciunas, and John Wall.