NBA Trade Grades: Pels land CJ McCollum; Blazers are now rebuilding?

New Orleans Pelicans trade grade: B+

It’s hard not to like this trade for the Pelicans. They desperately needed guard help and achieve that while also adding a player that could give this team the scoring punch that they don’t have opposite of Brandon Ingram at the moment.

He’s not the playmaker that they would’ve ideally liked to add, but he’ll certainly give this team a shot in the arm – even more so if Zion Williamson can return at some point during the stretch run.

The Pelicans are currently 10th in the Western Conference standings but five games out of the eighth seed. They have some ground to make up over the last couple of months of the season but adding McCollum (and possibly Zion) will certainly give this team a chance.