Chicago Bulls trades with the Pacers for Myles Turner: Get the Blazers involved with CJ McCollum
Who’s another one of the hottest names on the trade block at this moment?
That would be the Portland Trail Blazers standout guard and the $30 million man CJ McCollum.
It’s clear at this point that the Blazers are ready to move into a new era that could involve just superstar point guard Damian Lillard, whilst moving on from McCollum. But the problem that the Blazers are going to consistently face in terms of moving on from McCollum is finding a place that is willing to take on the rest of his contract.
I’m definitely not saying that CJ is a bad player. But it’s hard to find many teams ready and willing to take on the rest of his three-year contract that is worth a total of around a total of nearly $100 million.
That is unless the Blazers were able to find a team like the Pacers that likely needs to jump into rebuild mode soon. This particular trade deal hypothetically sees the Pacers vault their rebuild by taking on a plethora of future draft picks and some one-year deals in the process. Since the Blazers are getting the McCollum contract off the books, they get some real flexibility to find a new direction to go in.
And the return they get for their troubles includes Coby, LeVert, and Warren. Coby doesn’t have a bad contract at all and could be a nice fit leaning under Dame. LeVert does have two years left on a deal that pays him a little north of $17 million annually. But that’s still a much more workable contract than McCollum’s.
All in all, the Bulls give up one unprotected future first-round draft pick, Coby, Brown, and Jones.
The Blazers likely want to find a way to get a supporting cast to help Dame win now, and this could be a route to get that done. They do have to give up two unprotected first-round draft picks in the process, but that’s not all that bad. And the Pacers definitely have some motive to get this done, as would the Bulls.