The idea of bringing CJ McCollum back to Portland on a team-friendly contract will have to wait at least another year. The 34-year-old veteran guard has agreed to a one-year, $21M contract extension with the Atlanta Hawks, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported on Sunday:
Atlanta Hawks guard CJ McCollum has agreed to a one-year, $21 million contract extension with the franchise, his agent told ESPN’s Shams Charania.
The deal includes a trade kicker, according to agent Sam Goldfeder of Excel Sports Management.
McCollum had been eligible for an extension until June 30, at which point he would have been a free agent.
McCollum played some of the best basketball of his career after the Hawks acquired him in the trade that sent guard Trae Young to the Washington Wizards before the 2026 trade deadline. In 41 games with the Hawks, McCollum averaged 18.7 points per game while shooting 35.7% from behind the three-point arc. The Hawks won 19 of 23 games after inserting McCollum into the starting lineup in late February.
In addition to McCollum, the Hawks feature a young, promising squad that presented an early test to the New York Knicks in the Eastern Conference playoffs. Atlanta won two of the first three games in the series – in part thanks to McCollum’s clutch play – before the Knicks bounced back to take the series and steamroll their way to their first NBA championship in 53 years.
McCollum spent the first eight-and-a-half seasons of his career in Portland, where he averaged 19 points per game and won the NBA’s 2015-2016 Most Improved Player award. He is fifth on the Blazers’ all-time scoring list (10,710 points) and second in three-pointers made with 1,297 (trailing only Damian Lillard’s 2,387).
