Grades: Pelicans and Trail Blazers trade for CJ McCollum
Grades for the Portland Trail Blazers in the CJ McCollum trade
It’s hard to grade this trade for the Trail Blazers, as it doesn’t seem like they are finished and it might be part of a bigger plan, but I’ll give it a shot.
By trading Norman Powell and CJ McCollum, the Trail Blazers freed a ton of cap space that they can use to retool around Damian Lillard in the offseason.
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They are clearly high on young Anfernee Simons, so moving McCollum makes sense. They got back a solid role payer in Josh Hart, a promising young player they can develop in NAW, and what looks to be three draft picks, including one first-rounder.
That’s not a bad haul for McCollum, as they won’t lose a ton on the court right now and have cleared significant space to make moves and to allow for the growth of Simons.
The Trail Blazers also created a trade exception that they could use to add another player at this deadline or in the offseason to go along with all of that cap space. Detroit’s Jerami Grant has been mentioned as a possibility.
I’m tempted to give the move an “INCOMPLETE” because I do feel like the Trail Blazers are going to make more trades, but even if they don’t, I think it was a solid haul of players and assets that helped them achieve their goal of more payroll flexibility.
Grade: B