C.J. McCollum is headed to Washington D.C. and preparing to take the blame for whatever goes wrong.
No, he’s not pulling a Tommy Tuberville and jumping into national politics. The 33-year-old guard was traded from the New Orleans Pelicans to the Washington Wizards on Tuesday afternoon in a deal that saw Jordan Poole, Saddiq Bey, and the No. 40 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft go back to NOLA.
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As the news sunk in, McCollum took a whirl around the internet to catch up on the reaction. Even he had to laugh at at some of the comments out there.
The funniest tweet I’ve seen today is that I’m going to get blamed for the tariffs now too 🤣🤣
— CJ McCollum (@CJMcCollum) June 24, 2025
OK, this is such a perfectly wonky joke that might need a little explaining to those who don’t follow the minutia of NBA governance.
McCollum has taken a lot of the heat for the way NBA teams have been spending in free agency after the last collective bargaining agreement was ratified. It was the first CBA negotiated by McCollum as the President of the NBA Players Association.
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If your team didn’t trade for that All-Star or give a free agent an enticing contract, McCollum’s negotiating tact has become a useful scapegoat. So now that he’s in Washington — where President Donald Trump is adding and removing tariffs on a near-weekly basis — McCollum is fully ready to hear fans blame him for this, too.
On the other hand, he just might be the negotiator this country needs to actually lower prices again.
This article originally appeared on For The Win: Newest Wizard CJ McCollum has seen all the tariff jokes