NBA Rumors: Blazers Stuck with Injured Guard Until Performance Reaches New Level

CJ McCollum of the Portland Trail Blazers continues to ride the sidelines with a lung issue, something that will surely prevent any team from wanting him in any NBA trade scenario.

Hence, the Blazers may have to ride it out with McCollum for now and then possibly consider trade scenarios from there.

However, the problem there is that even if the 30-year-old guard were to recover from his lung issue, he would have to prove he deserves a spot on other rosters.

According to Eric Pincus of the Bleacher Report, McCollum is viewed as a negative trade asset. This means that if the Blazers truly want to deal him, they would have to make up for it with some compensation to get him off the books.

McCollum played in only 24 games this season before being sidelined. But when he was on the floor, the 2016 NBA Most Improved Player had impressive numbers.

The native of Ohio averaged 20.6 points, 4.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game so far in the 2021-22 campaign.

Hence, the main issue here may be tied to his health. There is no telling how well McCollum can recover from the lung problem, ironically something that raises concerns due to the ongoing pandemic.

Originally, Blazers’ fans felt that the Damian Lillard and McCollum tandem would be good building blocks that would boost Portland’s chances in the postseason. Glimpses of that were seen some years ago but everything has gone spiral for the team.

Chauncey Billups has taken over but the performance of the team has hardly been a sight to see. With Lillard and McCollum not seeing action, the former Detroit Pistons guard has been trying to look for others who can step up.

They are 14-23 as of this writing in the Western Conference but there is time to turn things around. McCollum, despite the adversity, could be of help once he gets better. The same holds for Lillard.

But for now, it is about calling on others to step up, a headache Billups needs to address.