CJ McCollum is no stranger to trade rumors. He was constantly thrown into the trade machine during his time with the Portland Trail Blazers. Once he was actually dealt to the New Orleans Pelicans, it stopped for a bit, but it wasn't long before he saw his name back in the rumor mill once again.
The buzz has grown a lot louder this season. With the Pelicans headed for a complete teardown and shopping their veteran stars, it's only a matter of time before CJ is moved once again.
Now 33 years old, he's in the twilight years of his prime. While he'll inevitably slow down in the near future, he's proven that he can be a valuable contributor to a contender and should be a highly coveted commodity ahead of the trade deadline. The Pelicans will be trying to extract all the value they can in a trade, but they also owe it to CJ McCollum to send him somewhere he can truly compete for a title.
The Pelicans need to send CJ McCollum to a contender
We've heard it time and again: 'this is the era of player empowerment.' While we have seen some stars dictate their own paths recently, that sentiment is a bit overstated. Just two years ago, we saw the Portland Trail Blazers explicitly decline to send Damian Lillard to his preferred destination in the Miami Heat and worked out their own trade with the Milwaukee Bucks instead.
Currently, the Miami Heat and Team President Pat Riley are sending Jimmy Butler a clear message that he won't get what he wants. While it seems like Butler will ultimately be granted his trade request, he's had to denounce his earlier list of preferred destinations and caught a seven-game suspension for "conduct detrimental to the team."
As president of the NBA Player's Association, there's almost no chance that we'll see CJ McCollum make any demands, at least not publicly. He's already given the most PR-trained answer possible when he was asked about his trade rumors earlier in the year. He did so again after his historic 50-point game, giving a non-answer about appreciating where he's at and leaving his future up to the Pelicans and the rest of the league:
"This team values me and I'm sure other teams value me. I like the city. My wife likes the city. My kids are happy here... My value is going to be exactly where it needs to be."
It's no surprise that CJ has remained a consummate professional in his last days as a Pelican. He's been that way since he arrived in New Orleans. He came to the Big Easy and accepted the task of becoming the team's resident veteran. He played out of position as their point guard for several years without complaint. He sacrificed and morphed his game to better fit the Pelicans' needs.
He did all that with the hope that he'd get the chance to honestly compete for a title. CJ held up his end of the bargain, but the Pelicans didn't. Now, the onus is on the franchise to trade him to a team that'll have something that New Orleans never did in his time here: a championship-level roster.