The Portland Trail Blazers won't be at full-strength until next season at the absolute earliest. With the playoffs right around the corner, though, Terry Stotts' team is poised to get back one of its best players. The team announced on Saturday that star guard C.J. McCollum has been upgraded to probable for the second leg of Portland's home and home with the Denver Nuggets on Sunday.
CJ McCollum (left knee) upgraded to probable for Sunday’s game vs. Nuggets.
— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) April 6, 2019
McCollum has missed the Blazers' last 10 games while recovering from a popliteus strain in his left knee. He originally suffered the injury in a loss the San Antonio Spurs on March 16th. Immediately after his fall, there were concerns that the sixth-year guard had incurred a likely season-ending injury. Instead, a subsequent MRI revealed no significant ligament damage, allowing McCollum and the Blazers to take his return to the floor on a week-by-week basis.
Portland played well during McCollum's absence, going 8-2 against a relatively soft schedule, key given how tightly packed the Western Conference playoffs standings were when he first went down. The Blazers have somewhat separated themselves from the bottom half of the field, though, setting up a likely first-round series against the fifth-place Utah Jazz, with home-court advantage still to be determined. They still have a chance to catch the third-place Houston Rockets, who lead Damian Lillard and company by just one and-a-half games with three left to play.
Getting McCollum back will be especially significant given the season-long loss of Jusuf Nurkic in late March. The fifth-year big man was enjoying a career season before suffering compound fractures to his left tibia and fibula late in a double-overtime win over the Brooklyn Nets.
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