Cavs should pursue CJ McCollum
The Cleveland Cavaliers should look to shake up their roster and pursue the Portland Trail Blazers guard via trade.
It’s another season in the second post-LeBron era and they are not anywhere closer to being relevant. The team has made moves in attempt to build something new and different, a team not necessarily reliant on one player, but a core of players. While their attempts have resulted in productive NBA players on the team, it simply has not made a dent in the returning to the contention arena. Like other teams who have had their season end already, Cleveland needs to evaluate their roster and determine who they should build around and who they can let go. There is no doubt that the Cavs need to shake things up on their roster and that brings us to the rumor that popped up over the weekend. There is another team that could be shaking things up bringing us to the Portland Trail Blazers and CJ McCollum.
An article from Jabari Young appearing on CNBC looks into the situation in Portland and what may happen this offseason. Young stated that the Cavs could be an option to land McCollum should the Trail Blazers look to deal him this offseason. This was not the only outlet to connect the dots between Cleveland and Portland in regards to McCollum.
A proposed trade from Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report has the Cavs acquiring CJ McCollum from Portland in exchange for Kevin Love, Collin Sexton, and a 2022 second-round pick which originally belonged to San Antonio. Cleveland would also acquire Derrick Jones Jr. in the deal.
Money-wise this is essentially a virtual swap of the contracts of CJ McCollum and Love, but that is not what to focus on. This is about the Cavs being able to improve their starting lineup by inserting McCollum into it while removing Sexton and Love from the equation. While McCollum is slated to make $30 million over the next three seasons, removing Love’s deal and the future money Sexton will make from the equation helps reset things a bit. There will be a team that is going to pay Collin Sexton, Cleveland should not be it. Let any other team take on the task of paying someone who many view as a sixth-man and nothing more. While sixth-men are important, paying a lot of money for one is not in the Cavs best interest at the current moment.
If the above trade did occur it would allow the Cavs to move from two players they probably should while at the same time acquiring a legitimate guard to play next to Darius Garland. With that Cleveland could start to make significant strides forward for the first time in a long time.
