Anfernee Simons’ recent explosion also has league executives chattering about the future of CJ McCollum in Portland, and to a lesser extent that of Norman Powell. Simons is headed for a lucrative restricted free agency this summer, and Portland is already trying to evade paying the luxury tax.
Assessing the interest for McCollum is somewhat difficult given his recent collapsed lung and a decline in production at the age of 30. But former GM Neil Olshey’s regime valued McCollum quite highly, and there’s a sense among some rival executives that McCollum would have a sizable market at a lower evaluation than Olshey may have held.