The Portland Trailblazers have traded guard CJ McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans for Josh Hart, Thomas Satoransky, Nickel Alexander-Walker, Didi Louzada, a future first-round pick, and two future second-round picks. Portland is also sending Tony Snell and Larry Nance Jr. to New Orleans. With the NBA Trade Deadline quickly approaching teams are ready to make deals. Portland has seemingly finally decided to shake things up and now has completely restructured their roster in what looks like the beginnings of a complete rebuild. There is currently no word on the trade status of star point guard Damian Lillard.
The Pelicans are sending Josh Hart, Tomas Satoransky, Nickel Alexander-Walker, Didi Louzada, a future first-round pick and future second to the Blazers, sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 8, 2022
Full trade, per sources:
Blazers: Josh Hart, Tomas Satoransky, Nickeil Walker-Alexander, Didi Louzada, 2022 protected first-round pick, two second-round picks.
Pelicans: CJ McCollum, Larry Nance, Tony Snell.— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) February 8, 2022
With this move, it is hard to argue that the Portland Trailblazers are not entering a rebuilding phase, and trading Lillard would make sense to fully start a rebuild. CJ McCollum was the second option on the team and without him, the team will surely take a step back in the short term. Josh Hart is a talented player and could be valuable in a rebuild along with the draft selections.
McCollum this season is averaging 20.5 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per game. He had played and started in 36 games this season for Portland. This trade also opens up even more time for emerging guard Anfernee Simons. Damian Lillard will continue to miss time with an abdominal injury, so with McCollum and Powell gone, it will fall to Simons to be the star.
