Former Blazers Star Guard Predicted to Reunite With Damian Lillard in Milwaukee

Ricardo Klein | 17 Hours Ago

Nov 10, 2021; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard CJ McCollum (3) and forward Norman Powell (24) against the Phoenix Suns at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images / Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

The Portland Trail Blazers will likely be one of the few teams that will be sellers as we approach the 2025 NBA trade deadline. The Blazers will look to move off many of their current pieces in return for expiring deals and draft picks.

The Blazers will look to add future talent in the coming years, but they won't be the only team looking to move off their current talent. Plenty of teams out there will look to move off their talent, induing the underachieving New Orleans Pelicans.

The Pelicans have had a nightmare season. They are currently 5-22 and have been depleted by injuries like no other.

Many of their key players have missed significant time, including star forward Zion Williamson. The Pelicans may be waving the white flag as many of their top players, including Williamson and former Blazers star guard CJ McCollum, are available for trade.

McCollum is a veteran guard who wants to be part of a contender. Because of that, he is likely to be traded and has heavy odds of reuniting with former Blazers All-Star guard Damian Lillard in Milwaukee.

According to BetOnline, the Bucks are the heavy favorite to reunite Lillard and McCollum in Milwaukee if he were traded from New Orleans.

The Bucks are the heavy favorite to reunite Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum in Milwaukee if CJ is traded from New Orleans 👀

(via @BetOnline_ag) pic.twitter.com/Q1qnAZ3Qbl

— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) December 18, 2024

Lillard and McCollum played more than 500 regular season games together as teammates in Portland. The year after the Blazers selected Lillard in the 2012 NBA Draft with the sixth overall pick, the Blazers took McCollum with another lottery pick (No. 10) in the 2013 NBA Draft.

The two were one of the more underrated duos in the league. McCollum moved into the starting lineup for good in the 2015-16 season, joining Lillard in the backcourt. They lead Portland to playoff appearances each of the next five seasons, highlighted by a trip to the 2019 Western Conference finals.

After that 2019 conference finals trip, they failed to make it past the first round in their next two trips to the playoffs. McCollum was traded to New Orleans during the 2022 trade deadline along with Larry Nance Jr. and Tony Snell to New Orleans in exchange for Josh Hart, Nickeil Alexander-Walker, Tomáš Satoranský, Didi Louzada, a protected 2022 first-round draft pick, the better of New Orleans' and Portland's 2026 second-round draft picks and New Orleans' 2027 second-round draft pick.

Lillard was in Portland for the next year and a half before he was traded to Milwaukee during the 2023 offseason. Now, there is a chance that the two guys could reunite, but this time in the Midwest.

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