Portland Trail Blazers: CJ McCollum Injury Prone or Freak Injuries
Batman and Robin go MIA
Damian Lillard and McCollum have played 515 games together, out of a possible 738 games. During this time, Lillard has missed 56 games in his career. Compared to the 128 games for McCollum. Dame only has two seasons where he didn’t play over 70 games. Compared to the three seasons for McCollum, it’s only one if you remove his first two years.
Unfortunately, over the last two years, the duo combined to miss 78 games (47 for McCollum and 31 for Lillard). Also, both players are into their early 30’s. Speaking from personal experience, this is when your body starts to change, and you can no longer do the things you used to do when you were younger. The Portland Trail Blazers have already gone through this once before, with a different player.
A good comparison is Wesley Matthews. He played every game in his first two seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers, then suffered a hip injury during the 2012-2013 season. The following year he returned and played in every game. Unfortunately, during his last season with the Portland Trail Blazers, Matthews suffered an Achilles injury. Since then, he’s only played over 70 games in an NBA season twice.
The Portland Trail Blazers have been here before in regards to their star players dealing with chronic injuries. Looking at you, Brandon Roy and Greg Oden.