Portland Trail Blazers fans remember it like it was yesterday — watching Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum lead the team to the conference finals in 2019 for the first time since 2000. That was the closest Portland came to winning a championship with the Lillard-McCollum duo. The Trail Blazers were first-round exits the next two years.
In the middle of the 2021-22 season, they traded McCollum to the Pelicans, ending his eight-and-a-half seasons in Portland. He continued his streak of averaging 20+ points per season in New Orleans, which began in the 2015-16 season. Maybe that trend will continue with the Wizards next season after the Pelicans traded him to Washington this summer.
McCollum is as far as he's ever been from winning a championship with the Wizards, a young rebuilding team. Even in a weakened conference, Washington isn't built to contend, but nobody thought the team would. The Wizards are continuing to lay the groundwork for what they hope will result in a resurgence.
McCollum is on an expiring deal, as he'll make $30.6 million next season. It's unlikely that he'll be in Washington for long. Maybe he'll get a shot to join a contender before the deadline, but in the meantime, he's a great veteran for the Wizards to have around, as is Khris Middleton.
How will the rest of CJ McCollum's career pan out?
McCollum will turn 34 in a couple of weeks, so he's on the downward slope of his career. The next deal that he gets won't be worth $30 million annually, regardless of how the next season plays out.
The best-case scenario for McCollum is to stay healthy and be traded at the deadline, or Washington could buy out his contract. He could be a vital contributor off the bench for a contender. The Wizards may intend to keep McCollum for the whole season. Whatever happens, he'll get to determine his future next offseason.
Trail Blazers fans might be dreaming of a CJ reunion, especially with Dame set to return in the 2026-27 season. At this point, anything is possible, right? Nobody thought Lillard would sign with Portland two years after being traded.
The reality is that regardless of what happens, McCollum isn't the player he used to be, but that doesn't mean he's nothing more than a cast-off. He averaged 21.1 points per game last season! Now that he's in Washington, though, let's hope that it isn't a dead end for his career.