Portland Trail Blazers fans, rejoice. After almost two months since breaking his left foot on January 16th, guard CJ McCollum told The Athletic that he “would bet” on a return next week.
“If I was a betting man, I would bet on next week, but I can’t bet on sports,” McCollum told The Athletic on Sunday.
In his absence, the Blazers have notched a 14-10 record on the back of Damian Lillard's 30.9 PPG and 8.7 APG on 44.3%/38.7%/93% shooting splits.
But the Blazers have certainly missed McCollum's pure explosiveness as a scorer. A threat from all three levels, the Blazers offense ranked fifth in points per 100 possessions and second in turnover rate prior to McCollum's injury, per Cleaning the Glass.
That the Blazers have been able to float above water in his absence makes McCollum's imminent return all the more exciting in what is already a bloodbath in the Western Conference. As the league enters the second half of the season, the Blazers currently sit fifth in the West.
With 35 games left and only 63 days to play them in, the Blazers will need all hands on deck to try to secure home-court advantage in the first round of the playoffs. They currently trail the Los Angeles Clippers by two games for the final home-court spot.
The Blazers appear to be getting at just the right time. Reports also indicate that Bosnian big man Jusuf Nurkic is also nearing a return from a wrist injury he sustained on January 14th, a mere two days prior to McCollum's. The return of Portland's big three–a unit that's only played 12 games together this season–bodes well for their regular-season push and the sanity of the team's fandom.
Follow Us
Subscribe