BIOGRAPHY
CJ McCollum was born on September 19, 1991, in Canton, Ohio. He is a shooting guard in the NBA.
During his third year in the league in 2015–16, he was named the NBA Most Improved Player.
McCollum played college basketball for the Lehigh Mountain Hawks and was named the Patriot League Player of the Year in both 2010 and 2012. He was selected by Portland with the tenth overall pick in the 2013 NBA draft. A reserve in his first two years, he became a full-time starter for the Trail Blazers in his third season after making the decision to move to shooting guard.
McCollum hosts a weekly podcast, Pull Up with CJ McCollum, that is produced by Cadence13. It is co hosted by ESPN analyst Jordan Schultz. McCollum has a podcast studio in his home and brings portable recording equipment with him when he is out of town. Guests on the show have included Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony.
McCollum's older brother, Errick, is also a professional basketball player. Off the court, CJ has long taken a keen interest in journalism. As such, he has written articles concerning the NBA for various media outlets; in one of his pieces, he interviewed the Commissioner of the league Adam Silver.
McCollum is involved in his community as a radio personality and philanthropist. In 2016, he opened up the CJ McCollum Dream Center, which is an innovative learning room at the Blazers Boys & Girls Club outfitted with new computers, books, art, and learning tools. The Center aims to provide a safe and inspiring space for underserved youth to learn, explore, create, and grow. CJ also helps foster local youths' interest in journalists through an initiative called CJ's Press Pass; it grants aspiring journalists access to postgame news conferences and provides them the opportunity to attend events with McCollum, to receive personalized mentorship from members of the media, and to have their work published.
McCollum is a wine enthusiast. During the NBA coronavirus bubble, he brought 84 bottles in with him and kept his hotel room temperature in the 50s Fahrenheit to protect it. He has his own label, McCollum Heritage 91, named after the street he grew up on and his birth year.
Portland Trail Blazers star CJ McCollum is launched a talk show called "ReMaking America" in the NBA offseason to tackle social justice issues for PlayersTV, the sports media company he owns with two dozen other athletes. Democratic VP nominee Kamala Harris is among his first guests.