In the early morning of February 9, Beijing time, The Famous Record Charania reported that the Blazers have officially reached a deal about CJ. McCollum was sent to the Pelicans, and the Trail Blazers were rewarded with Hart, Walker, Satoransky and the draft picks. At this point, the two-gun combination that the Blazers maintained for 8 years was officially disbanded. McCollum was selected by the Blazers with the tenth pick in the 2013 first round, and Lillard was selected by the Blazers with the sixth pick in the first round in 2012.
This season, CJ has played in 36 games for the Trail Blazers, averaging 35.2 minutes per game and averaging 20.5 points and 4.5 assists per game. After the deal was struck, CJ officially said goodbye to the torn city of Portland and to Lillard, a good friend of his partner's for 8 years.
According to famous reports, the Blazers sent Powell and Covington away out of consideration for the team's future salary space. Unexpectedly, the Blazers also sent CJ McCollum away. This deal may have been figured out by the Blazers management, after all, the upper limit of the two-gun combination is really limited. McCollum will have to occupy about $30 million in salary space for the team in the next two seasons, and through this deal, the Blazers can free up a lot of salary space this summer.
McCollum's playing style is still very efficient, according to media statistics, since the 2016-17 season, McCollum has completed a total of 2155 jump shots, shooting 54.4%, ranking first in the league in the same period.
In the deal, the Blazers also considered McCollum's feelings, and the team believed that CJ would play his role after going to the Pelicans. This season, the Pelicans' goal is to impact the playoffs, and CJ McCollum has offensive and organizational skills to help the Pelicans impact the playoffs.