Grades: Pelicans and Trail Blazers trade for CJ McCollum

The New Orleans Pelicans made the biggest move of the trade deadline so far, acquiring CJ McCollum in a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers.

McCollum had been in consistent rumors involving the Pelicans, so this wasn’t a complete surprise, but it’s always a bittersweet day when a fan-favorite gets traded. The deal was centered around Josh Hart, one of the Pels’ leaders and a popular player with fans.

New Orleans also sent promising young player Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Didi Louzada, who won’t play this season and a range of picks that could change based on where the Pelicans end up in the standings.

The parameters of the original report changed when Larry Nance and Tony Snell were revealed to be part of the deal, which did seem to benefit both teams in myriad ways.

The end of two eras

The Portland Trail Blazers are saying goodbye to the Lillard/McCollum era, and Portland fans are undoubtedly sad to see McCollum go, as he was a great player for them and is one of the most likable and reliable players in the league.

The Pelicans will say goodbye to Josh Hart, who hadn’t been with the organization as long as McCollum but had grown into a fan favorite and is also a likable and reliable guy.

New Orleans is also giving up NAW in the deal, a throw-in to the trade that I hope doesn’t come back to haunt them someday, as he has shown flashes of stardom at times though it has been wildly inconsistent. I honestly won’t miss yelling “NOOOOO!” at the TV every time he launched a 3-point shot, but I wish him well in Portland.

Let’s get to the grades.

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.

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

Grades for the New Orleans Pelicans trade for CJ McCollum

Even though I was sad to see Josh Hart go, I was happy to see the trade for McCollum, as I thought it was the right move given where the Pelicans are now and where they want to be.

I think this was a slam dunk trade for the Pelicans, as they got a third piece to go with Zion Williamson and Brandon Ingram, a guy who is a team player who won’t mind being a secondary option and will thrive in that role and is only under contract for two more seasons.

He should still be very productive over the rest of this contract, which gives the Pelicans a chance to win now and into the future without hurting their long-term plans or flexibility.

McCollum is a high-volume 40 percent 3-point shooter and a guy who can still explode for big nights, which takes some of the pressure off Ingram to always be the focal point.

Losing Hart hurts, but the rest of those guys weren’t contributing, so this is a big net gain for the Pelicans, who now have a bigger team with more scoring.

Larry Nance is the wildcard of this trade to me, as he can replace most of what Josh Hart gave you, is a rebound/hustle guy just like Hart but he’s also 6-foot-7 and adds to the Pels’ overall length on defense.

The big question is whether Nance will be healthy this season, as he just suffered a setback in his injury recovery, but if he does, he’ll be a welcome addition to their depth chart and the loss of Hart won’t sting so much on the defensive end.

I think this trade makes the Pelicans the favorite to make the play-in tournament and also sets them up to be a contender next season when they are at full strength.

Slight marks off for the inclusion of Hart but I am sure it was a deal breaker for Portland.

Grade: B+