Philadelphia 76ers: No C.J. McCollum, Joel Embiid isn’t going to Portland

While C.J. McCollum may be a great three-point shooter, he’s a horrible recruiter. It’s safe to say that Joel Embiid is going to remain a Philadelphia 76ers

What a night to be a fan of the Philadelphia 76ers.

After The Ringer broke a scathing expose on general manager Bryan Colangelo‘s use of secret Twitter accounts to talk trash on his players and defend his incredibly large-collared shirts, it seems like the entire City of Brotherly Love is buzzing with interest around the team’s immediate future.

Could this be the end of Colangelo’s time in Philly? Could players demand a trade following their general manger’s public trash talking? Could this signal the return Sam Hinkie, back from the dead to take The Process to the land of milk to the land of milk and honey?

While we will know the answer to (most) of these questions soon enough, one person who’s trying to use the team’s sudden dysfunction for his own gain is Portland Trail Blazers‘ shooting guard C.J. McCollum.

https://twitter.com/CJMcCollum/status/1001664280746487808

A day after rumors broke of his own potential trade to Philadelphia, McCollom, ever the opportunist, wasted little time trying to recruit Joel Embiid to his team.

And believe me, this isn’t new behavior for McCollum.

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With Portland currently trapped in NBA purgatory, having been swept in their last two playoff appearances, with virtually no free cap space to add another star, McCollum has anointed himself somewhat of a brand ambassador to try to persuade unhappy stars to join him and Damian Lillard in the Pacific Northwest.

So far, it has not gone well.

After attempting to woo Carmelo Anthony last summer, McCollum has set his sights on The Process himself, hoping to add the dominant center the Trailblazers have been missing for years.

Now don’t get me wrong, Embiid is certainly upset about the incredibly negative things Colangelo said about him anonymously on Twitter, as highlighted by his own recent Twitter activity, but would he really want to force a trade to a team like the Trailblazers?

Setting aside the fact that Portland simply can’t afford Embiid and his max salary, and would effectively have to trade half of their roster to even make a deal work financially, why on Earth would the Sixers part ways with a generational player just because of their current GM’s affinity for Kevin Durant-esque burner Twitter accounts?

I mean Joel Embiid and Michael Rubin, the co-owner of the Sixers just went on a Jamaican vacation together. If that doesn’t signal a budding Bromance I don’t know what does.

If one of the two is expendable, my money’s on Colangelo.

While it would be nice to see JoJo and McCollum, one of the best 3-point shooters in the league and the only NBA player from Lehigh University, on the same team, it seems far more likely that they’ll both be in red, white, and blue then red and black. But at this point, it’s anyone’s guess as to who would pull the trigger on a deal.

Next: Joel Embiid provides classic responses to Bryan Colangelo story

UPDATE

It looks like Joel Embiid still #TrustsTheProcess