Portland Trail Blazers: 2017-18 player grades for C.J. McCollum

Final grade

In his fifth season, McCollum became one of the most popular players in the NBA. He has his own shoe with Li-Ning and recently just came out with his basketball podcast, “Pull up with C.J. McCollum.”

McCollum had an excellent season for the Blazers and was a critical part of the team being named the Northwest Division champions and being the 3-seed in the Western Conference playoffs. He and Lillard have established themselves as one of the best backcourt in the NBA, if not the best.

Going into this summer, McCollum still has three more years left on his deal. A lot of fans and media are calling for the Blazers to break up their backcourt and it seems like McCollum would the odd man out between him and Lillard.

However, the Blazers front office is very unlikely to trade either of the two guards, and both guys have expressed their desire to play in Portland and with each other. McCollum is a top guard in this league, and it would be hard for a team to give the Blazers a deal where they’d get better while losing McCollum.

C.J. McCollum had himself a fantastic season and showed he could be a great player. He came into this season and improved his defense and was a dynamic playmaker for the Blazers, scoring 20-plus points per game for the third straight season.

Teams know McCollum is going to get the ball and look to score; he just becomes too hard to stop. In his most recent podcast episode, he said to watch out for a more fiery C.J. McCollum next season. It will be fun to watch him try and improve on this season’s performance.

Next: Full two-round 2018 NBA Mock Draft

Grade: A-