The Hawks value veteran combo guard CJ McCollum as more than just an expiring contract, according to Grant Afseth of DallasHoopsJournal.com, who hears from sources that Atlanta has discussed the idea of offering the 34-year-old a one-year extension worth around $20MM.
McCollum, who is being traded to Atlanta along with Corey Kispert in the move that will send Trae Young to the Wizards, is earning $30.67MM in 2025/26, which is the final season of his current deal.
Although McCollum has been in the NBA since 2013, he has technically never been a free agent, agreeing to three different contract extensions over the span of his career. It’s unclear if he’d prefer to test free agency in 2026 or potentially sign a short-term deal at some point after he’s officially traded to the Hawks.
According to Afseth, Atlanta views McCollum as a complementary ball-handler and scorer alongside the team’s young core. The team also likes his ability to play both on and off the ball, Afseth writes.
McCollum started each of the Wizards’ first 35 contests, averaging 18.8 points, 3.6 assists and 3.5 rebounds on .454/.393/.804 shooting in 30.9 minutes per game. He was in his first season with Washington after being acquired in an offseason trade with New Orleans.
A potential one-year extension with McCollum would allow the Hawks to maintain long-term financial flexibility while theoretically improving their chances at staying competitive in the short term, Afseth notes.
Going to go ahead and say he’d rather test the market than stay with Atlanta lmao
No he’s not. He can’t get 20 million on the market anywhere. He’s taking that because he’s at the end of his career. He’s made a lot of money so me personally I would try to go for a championship but in order to do that he would have to make around 5 to 7 million and I just don’t see him turning down 20 million
Not even a coherent point being made here ^
What a stupid response to his post, Davey. You can agree or disagree, but it’s perfectly “coherent”. Do you even know what that word means?
I don’t even respond, to people who don’t have any type of analysis. If he wants to refute the point that I made, that’s his opinion. But I think he loves trolling!!
In the long run the Hawks basically traded Luka Doncìc for CJ McCollum and Corey Kispert. That’s even worse than the Doncìc to the Lakers trade.
That is misleading. You also have to consider the 7 years of play they got from Trae Young. Still got the worse end of the trade, no doubt, but you make it sound way more dire than it was
The Hawks also received a first round pick from Dallas. That became Cam Reddish. They traded Reddish for a pick that was then used in the Dejounte Murray trade.
Ok, if add Dice Daniels to the haul it doesn’t look so bad.
Well that pick was only a part of the trade, so you cant say that it directly turned into Dejounte Murray but overall who cares, the Hawks are in a great position right now
That isn’t how draft trades work. Atlanta drafted Luka for Dallas. They were always going to be taking Trae, they just squeezed a pick out of it.
In the long run the Wizards traded Saddiq Bey, Micah Peavy, Jordan Poole + 1 2RP for Trae Young, Malaki Branham and Cam Whitmore.
Anyone want to explain how the Wizards made out badly here?
Thought Rockets could make a play for CJ. The Hawks are a good place for him. With Tyson that is a nice backcourt. Weird looking at Hawks without Trae lols.
CJ McCollum is defintely the most underrated player of all time. Multiple seasons worthy of being an all star, had multiple stretches where he played at an MVP level and he took the Blazers to their best result in recent years (WCF).
And even at an older age, he is still a phenomenal player and seems like a great vet.
Not really. He’s only good for about 20 minutes competitive winning basketball and if you have them on the court longer than that he will be a negative on the court and exposed. That’s not to say I agree with Al that the rockets would be the best case scenario. However, a $30 million there’s no way he heads over there. Not really understanding what the Hawks want to do. They’re pretty much stuck in purgatory right now. They don’t have a star. They have some really good pieces but no star so they would be a four or five seed and get bounced out in the first or second round every year with a team they have
Horrendous take. He isn’t underrated and definitely not all-time underrated. He has not cleared more than 3.0 VORP in a season. The stats don’t agree with you.
Stats this, stats that
Everything is a stat if you are good enough at math
He plays on the worst team in the league
Troll not even going to respond