NBA: 10 stars that could be on the move next

3. CJ McCollum, Portland Trail Blazers

NBA general managers face tons of tough decisions in their jobs.

One of the most difficult is deciding when it’s time to move on from a franchise cornerstone.

The Damian Lillard–CJ McCollum backcourt pairing is one of the most electric in the league. It’s also continually fallen short in the playoffs, save their Western Conference Finals run last season.

While McCollum is a terrific player and shot maker Lillard is the face of the franchise and in a league that is becoming more and more dominated by larger, ball-handling wings (I.e, Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, etc.), Portland must ask itself if McCollum is the right piece for their team.

Coming off that Western Conference Finals run Portland has armed themselves for another run acquiring Hassan Whiteside, Kent Bazemore and others. With Golden State essentially dethroned as the conference king, the Trail Blazers have their sights set on the next step: the NBA Finals.

Their only problem is the lack of wing players, and in a league dominated by them Portland most likely needs one in order to compete.

Trading McCollum may be the key to making that happen.

With two years left on his contract — $27.6 million in 2019-20 and $29.4 million in 2020-21 — McCollum has a very tradable contract. It would be silly to think that a whole host of NBA teams would be calling Portland if he became available.

Even though McCollum is a staple of Portland basketball and one of the best shooting guards in the league, his redundancy with Lillard and the team’s immediate need for an All-Star caliber wing player may cause McCollum to be playing in a different city sooner rather than later.