Portland Trail Blazers: 4 Trade Deadline Week Rumors
4. Can’t Break Up The Duo
There’s a lot of moving parts in the Rose City. However, the two players that are presumably untouchable are the duo of Damian Lillard and C.J. McCollum.
Damian Lillard signed a five-year, $120 million contract extension last summer. He’s making $24.3 million in this first year of the extension. The incremental pay raises will see him make $31.6 million in 2020-21, the last year of the extension.
More from Hoops Habit
- 7 Players the Miami Heat might replace Herro with by the trade deadline
- Meet Cooper Flagg: The best American prospect since LeBron James
- Are the Miami Heat laying the groundwork for their next super team?
- Sophomore Jump: 5 second-year NBA players bound to breakout
- NBA Trades: The Lakers bolster their frontcourt in this deal with the Pacers
Meanwhile, C.J. McCollum signed a four-year, $106 million contract extension this summer. He’s making $3.2 million in the final year of his rookie deal. He’s going to make nearly $24 million in 2017-18.
No contract is unmovable, but it’s unlikely that Portland will ship either of these two after just committing that much money to them. They’re both players that Portland should be building around instead of shipping away.
Neil Olshey is instead looking to clear space by moving the guys around them. The team is looking to avoid the luxury tax line for the next two seasons.
According to The Vertical, Portland has $142.6 million on their books for the 2017-18 season. McCollum’s extension alone will be a nearly $20.7 million hit to the payroll next year. ESPN’s Brian Windhorst wrote in July that the NBA dropped their luxury tax line projection for 2017-18 from $127 million to $122 million.
Portland would be in a rough spot if they end up being a small-market team that’s over the salary cap but paying the luxury tax either this year or next year.
Next: 2017 NBA Trade Deadline: Grades For All 30 Teams
Neil Olshey is cognizant of these stakes, so there should be more movement from the Trail Blazers this week. If any transactions are made, there’s a good chance they won’t involve the team’s two most valuable players.