What if former Trail Blazers star CJ McCollum could return to Portland to reunite with Damian Lillard?
It’s a sports trade rumor that sounds too good to be true, and in this case, it is exactly that.
There are no indications that McCollum, who was Lillard’s backcourt mate with the Blazers from 2013-22, will be traded from the Washington Wizards to the Blazers. But that didn’t stop a website from posting the following headline this week:
“Wizards Trading CJ McCollum to the Portland Trail Blazers.”
Scrolling down a bit on the TWSN post, there is this: “*THIS IS A PREDICTION, NOT A REPORT*”
Ah, the fine print.
But for the many who saw the headline or some iteration of it either directly or via social media, it was certainly misleading.
Again, there are no substantiated reports that the Blazers are trading for McCollum. They have a full backcourt that includes the superstar (albeit injured) Lillard, acquired earlier this month after his release from the Milwaukee Bucks, along with two-time All-Star Jrue Holiday and promising players in Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe. It defies logic that they would trade for McCollum, who is entering the final year of his contract and is set to make more than $30 million in 2025-26.
Sorry, Rip City, but any Lillard-McCollum reunion on the Blazers is quite unlikely to happen anytime in the near future.
— Joel Odom writes about trending topics in news, life and culture, and sports. Reach him at 503-221-8594, jodom@oregonian.com or @jkodom on Blue Sky.
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