The New Orleans Pelicans have agreed to an early contract extension with CJ McCollum. Despite an existing contract until 2024, the guard is already extending it by a further two years and will thus remain tied to the franchise until 2026.
This is reported by Adrian Wojnarowski (ESPN) with reference to McCollum’s agents. The new working paper nets the 31-year-old an additional $64 million over the two years. A player or team option is apparently not included.
In total, the Pelicans will pay the scorer $133 million over the next four years. This means that the star trio consisting of McCollum, Brandon Ingram (until 2025) and Zion Williamson (until 2028) is tied to the team for the long term.
sea ESPN Pels boss David Griffin announced the early contract extension with McCollum as one of the top priorities of the summer. The guard is respected within the franchise not only for his on-court production but also for his leadership skills.
In February, New Orleans secured the guard’s services in a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers, with whom McCollum spent the first eight and a half years of his NBA career. He then played an important role in the Pelicans’ strong second half of the season, who reached the play-in tournament and finally the playoffs without the injured Williamson.
Although it was over there in the first round after a strong fight against the 1-seed from Phoenix after six games, the Pelicans want to continue to attack in the west with the core of Williamson, Ingram and McCollum. McCollum, who also serves as president of the NBPA, averaged 24.3 points and 5.8 assists per game last season in the Pelicans jersey, with shooting percentages of 49.3 percent from the field and 39.4 percent from downtown.
