Portland Trail Blazers superstar Damian Lillard solidified himself as one of the best scorers in the league last season in the NBA Bubble and put on an absolute show after the NBA’s resumption of play.
In eight seeding games in Orlando, Lillard averaged 37.6 points per game, 9.6 assists, 4.3 rebounds and shooting just about 44% from the floor and 40.7% from three-point range, propelling them into the playoffs for the seventh straight season and earning Lillard the MVP award of the NBA restart.
Lillard carried the Trail Blazers against the Los Angeles Lakers in the first-round of the playoffs and continued to play at one of the highest levels we have ever seen from a player, but exited the series and NBA bubble earlier than anticipated after he suffered a knee strain in Game 4 of the series. Portland went on to lose Game 5 and were booted from the playoffs in the first-round.
After his first losing record with the team for the first time since his first season with the team, head coach Terry Stotts remains on the sideline for Portland heading into the 2020-21 NBA season and should be quite pleased with the roster his front office has put together. When word got around about the Houston Rockets opening up their roster for trades, Portland quickly swooped in and acquired Robert Covington in exchange for Trevor Ariza, the 16th pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and a 2021 protected first-round pick.
Portland also went on to add Enes Kanter via a trade with Boston, both Harry Giles and Derrick Jones Jr. in free agency and then re-signed both Carmelo Anthony and Rodney Hood, who is coming off of an Achilles injury last year.
The Portland Trail Blazers are primed to possibly have their best season in franchise history since making the NBA Finals in 1992 and it is all because of what Damian Lillard can do. This team will go as far as he is able to take them and after finally getting some much-needed help, the Trail Blazers are a team that nobody in the Western Conference will want to play down the stretch.
While Damian Lillard gets all the credit on the Trail Blazers, CJ McCollum is a guy that often gets covered in Lillard’s shadow. McCollum is a great player on his own, averaging 18.5 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3.1 assists, while also shooting 39.7% from three-point range over the course of his 7 year NBA career. The only bad thing about McCollum moving forward is that he has reached the peak of his career.
He is not going to get better than he already is and with Portland failing to make the NBA Finals with him as the second-best scorer on this team, they may be willing to trade him for the right price. If Portland was able to acquire two All-Star level talents in exchange for CJ McCollum, it could be enough to finally push them over the edge and potentially win the Western Conference.
Let’s take a look at a trade that could send CJ McCollum to the Indiana Pacers in exchange for two, high-level players with All-Star potential.
