There has been plenty of speculation regarding the return of Portland Trail Blazers shooting guard CJ McCollum, but it appears he will not be available for Wednesday's game versus the Memphis Grizzlies.
McCollum has been out since mid-March after suffering a knee strain. According to Blazers beat reporter Casey Holdahl, the star guard will sit out against the Grizzlies.
CJ McCollum remains sidelined with a popliteus strain, he’s out for Wednesday’s game versus the Grizzlies
— Casey Holdahl (@CHold) April 2, 2019
CJ McCollum's absence hardly comes as any surprise at this point. He had seemingly avoided a devastating knee injury several weeks ago. Although it was not nearly as worse as it looked, Portland has indicated that they will take a cautious approach with his recovery moving forward.
Prior to the injury, McCollum was averaging 21.3 points on 46.3 percent shooting from the field and 38.0 percent from deep. As a result, his presence has been heavily missed by the Blazers offense as of late. Fortunately, they have managed to maintain their favorable position in the Western Conference standings after winning eight of their last 10 games.
Their recent success could be why the Blazers do not feel the need to bring McCollum back until he is 100 percent healthy. It is no secret that Portland has rather high expectations for themselves this season. This may come as a bit of a surprise since they have been swept in the first round of the playoffs over the last two years. They will need McCollum to be as healthy as possible if they hope to avoid the same fate this time around.
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