The Portland Trail Blazers made the Western Conference Finals last season after a tremendous run that ended at the hands of the Golden State Warriors, and this summer, they retooled the roster some in an effort to raise their ceiling.
Whether those moves were successful or not remains to be seen, but what we know for sure is that Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum are the core of this team and will be for the foreseeable future. Lillard inked a supermax extension this summer to keep him in Portland long-term, an on Tuesday, we learned McCollum had done the same.
As ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski relayed, McCollum agreed to a three-year, $100 million deal that extends his current contract to five years, keeping him and Lillard as the star backcourt of Portland through 2024.
Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum has agreed to a three-year, $100 million contract extension — extending his current deal to five years and $157 million, his agent, Sam Goldfeder of Excel Sports, tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 30, 2019
The Blazers are all-in on their backcourt tandem and for good reason. The duo has been wildly successful in the regular season and last year finally pushed through to the conference finals to prove they can make a deep postseason run. The question, as always, is whether Portland will be able to build a championship level team around them, but there’s something to be said about keeping a pair of homegrown All-Stars around and rewarding them for their longevity and success.
