The Portland Trail Blazers are trading guard CJ McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans for multiple players and draft compensation, The Athletic reported Tuesday.
Forward Josh Hart and guards Nickeil Alexander-Walker and Tomas Satoransky will join the Blazers in exchange for McCollum, who is in his ninth season with Portland.
McCollum, 30, is averaging 20.5 points, 4.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds in 36 starts in 2021-22. He missed 18 games earlier this season with a collapsed right lung sustained in a Dec. 4 loss to the Boston Celtics.
McCollum, the 10th overall pick in 2013 and the NBA’s Most Improved Player in 2015-16, owns career averages of 19.0 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists in 564 games (467 starts). He ranks second in Blazers history with 1,297 career 3-pointers, trailing longtime backcourt partner Damian Lillard (2,143).
Portland made the playoffs in each of McCollum’s first eight seasons but enters Tuesday night’s game vs. Orlando in 11th place in the West with a 21-33 record, a half-game behind the Pelicans (21-32).
Hart, 26, is in his third season with New Orleans after spending his first two NBA campaigns with the Los Angeles Lakers. He is averaging 13.4 points, 7.8 rebounds and 4.1 assists in 41 games (40 starts) this season.
Alexander-Walker, 23, is averaging 12.8 points, 3.3 boards and 2.8 assists through 50 games (19 starts) in his third season with the Pelicans.
Satoransky, 30, is contributing 2.8 points, 2.4 assists and 2.0 rebounds in 32 games (three starts) in his first season with New Orleans.
–Field Level Media