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ESPN analyst Bruce Bowen thinks Damian Lillard and Portland Trail Blazers backcourt partner CJ McCollum should have signed their impending extensions “yesterday.”
Bowen praised the duo's play after general manager Neil Olshey took the ballsy route of keeping this team's core intact, despite being swept out of two straight postseasons prior to the start of the 2018-19 (now three).
“It should have been done yesterday, if it could be,” said an effusive Bowen on SportsCenter. “The fact that you don't want to break up something that's good. You look at what they do for the ball club, they are productive.
“Usually when you start talking about contract situations is usually when someone else is not being as productive, but this has been a great season for the Portland Trail Blazers.”
Lillard is still under contract for the next two seasons, but is eligible to sign a four-year, $191 supermax extension after qualifying for the Designated Veteran Player Exception after getting a First Team All-NBA nod in 2017-18. While shelling out nearly $200 million in one player is no laughing matter, it is considerably cheaper than allowing him to test free agency in 2021, which could cost the Blazers several millions more with the cap rising every season.
McCollum is in the same predicament, still with two years left in his contract before he becomes an unrestricted free agent, though ineligible at the supermax level due to years served (must have served at least seven seasons before signing).
The Blazers could be tying up a large part of their salary to these two guards, but given their success and dynamic, a front office will likely prefer to lock down talent than risk it going away.
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