Mannix: McCollum Staying In Portland

Boston-based Sports Illustrated writer Chris Mannix has suggested the Portland Trail Blazers do not intend to trade CJ McCollum before next season. As part of an NBC Sports Boston segment, Mannix and The Athletic’s Jared Weiss both named McCollum as someone the Celtics should target this offseason.

However Mannix placed an interesting caveat on his answer suggesting the Blazers’ shooting guard was not available.

“I should first say, from what I’ve been told, CJ McCollum has been told he’s not getting traded this offseason, so it may be a moot point, but I think CJ is the kind of player that would complement Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown well.”

“He’s a lead guard, he’s offensive-oriented, he’s played alongside a volume scorer in Damian Lillard before, so some of this is not going to be new for him. And I think a change of scenery would do CJ McCollum well.”

Weiss also pointed out that outside Jaylen Brown and Jayson Tatum, there wasn’t much else the Blazers would want from the Celtics in any potential McCollum deal.

“The thing is, how do you even get CJ McCollum over to the Celtics? Does Portland want to bring in Al Horford at this point? I assume there not going to make that flip. Marcus Smart could be an answer with a bunch of good young players. So maybe get some more playmaking depth around Damian Lillard.

“You got to remember, Portland’s goal right now is to convince Damian Lillard that they are going to win with their new coaching hire in the next year or two. So, if you are trading away CJ McCollum, you have to get an upgrade for your team in some regard and there’s a huge gap between what the Celtics can offer between Jaylen Brown, which I feel like would be foolish to offer for CJ McCollum and Marcus Smart, who may not be enough for them.”

McCollum’s name has appeared in trade rumors since the Blazers season ended earlier this month with the Philadelphia 76ers’ Ben Simmons named as a potential target by multiple NBA analysts.