Portland Trail Blazers backcourt duo of Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum was broken yesterday. The team sent McCollum to the New Orleans Pelicans in a 7-player trade that also included a couple of draft picks.
For nine years Lillard and McCollum played together in Portland and became household names. In an interview Dame admitted that for the past three years there was a sense that a trade could be coming.
The 31-year-old superstar also talked about the friendship he had with McCollum and how this trade opens a new chapter in Blazers’ history.
“When I’m seeing “CJ To The Pelicans” and stuff like that, it’s like damn, ain’t no coming back from this, this is it. It ain’t gonna be no every day, pull up to the house, dinner on the road, all that stuff. It’s done, he’s on a new team. As much as I understood it and he understood it and we kind of have always communicated in a transparent way, it don’t make it any easier to deal with or to look at. Like man, is it really over? Is the run really over? And that’s where we are.”
Some speculate that this trade will be a precursor to a Lillard trade, however, NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski reports that Portland wants to build a team around Dame and remain competitive.
