CJ McCollum has spent four seasons in New Orleans. He was brought in during the 2022 trade deadline to add a veteran voice to the young Pelicans' locker room. Over four years, the now 33-year-old has helped guide this young team and provided a great scoring punch. McCollum has consistently been healthy in New Orleans, appearing in 80 percent of his games during his three full seasons with the team.
Despite McCollum's consistent scoring punch, averaging 20.7 points per game, his time with the Pels seems to be coming to an end. The aging guard's veteran presence is no longer needed. With guys like Zion Williamson, who will be 25 next year, and the addition of Dejounte Murray, who is 28, it's their time to lead the team, especially when you look at McCollum's $30.6 million price tag; he doesn't carry the same value for the Pels anymore.
The change that's needed
With the decision to fire David Griffin and bring in Joe Dumars as the team's next president of basketball operations, new management is bound to make a move. The Zion Williamson trade rumors were shut down with him representing the team at the draft lottery. Dejounte Murray was only acquired a season ago, and with Herb Jones being one of the NBA's best defenders, there would be no reason to move on from either of them. The clear answer is to trade CJ.
With the Pelicans already being a deep team, McCollum's presence is stunting the growth of some of the Pels' younger players. He is taking minutes away from guys like Jordan Hawkins, who fits perfectly with this team as a pure knockdown shooter and fits the team's timeline better at only 23 years old. Another young guy who has shown extreme promise but could be stunted due to a lack of minutes is rookie guard Antonio Reeves, who shot 39.5 percent from deep in his 44 games last season.
Who are some potential trade partners for the 33-year-old? Well, a couple come to mind. Teams like the Magic, Heat, and Kings are all looking for more guard play, shooting, and scoring, but the one that stands above these three is the Detroit Pistons.
Detroit was the NBA's best story last year, going from the worst record in the association the year before to a top-six seed. But one thing was clear when Cade Cunningham was off the court: Their offense was awful. The Pistons scored 4.4 more points per possession when Cunningham was on the floor. With the Pistons needing scoring and the Pels' desire to offload McCollum, the two teams could definitely strike a deal.
With this suggested trade proposal, the Pels would add a veteran forward in Tobias Harris, who had a good season in Detroit last year. Forward is a position that the Pels need depth at, as year in and year out, they deal with plenty of injuries there. Whether it's Zion Williamson, Trey Murphy, or Herb Jones, all three of those guys have missed their fair share of time. Harris had a good season in 2024-25, averaging and shooting 34.5 percent from 3 on 3.6 attempts per game.
A deal like this would also add more future second-round draft capital and give them a chance to take a flyer on Marcus Sasser, a 24-year-old guard who has shown potential to become a great sparkplug, microwave-type scorer off the bench.