Portland Trail Blazers guard C.J. McCollum was forced to sit out the team's game against the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday because of a paperwork error made before tip off, according to Jason Quick of CSNNW. McCollum was noticeably absent from the opening player introductions despite being suited up and he wasn't able to appear in the game at all.
C.J. McCollum missed a game because the Blazers made a paperwork error
Always double check!
Brace Hemmelgarn-USA TODAY Sports
McCollum couldn't play against the Clippers because the Blazers failed to mark him as active on the roster prior to the game. According to Quick, the team went through its usual pregame routine with trainer Geoff Clark giving coach Terry Stotts a sheet with the team's roster for him to review. However, the sheet had Luis Montero, a rarely used forward, circled instead of McCollum, the team's former first-round pick and starting shooting guard. Stotts signed the roster sheet anyway without double-checking, leaving McCollum off the active roster.
Portland then realized its mistake and tried to change the roster by claiming the mistake was a “clerical error,” but the league gave Clippers’ coach Doc Rivers final say on whether the list of active players could be amended and Rivers declined to allow it, according to The Oregonian’s Joe Freeman.
“We were trying to figure out what the heck,” Rivers said after the game. “We knew you couldn’t change the rule, because it happened to us. But it’s not on us to do that. That’s all on them.”
As a result, McCollum was officially inactive for the game and unable to play despite being healthy and ready to go.
We’ve heard a lot of reasons for players missing games, from injuries to suspensions to the classic DNP-old. However, I don’t know if we’ve ever seen a DNP-paperwork before. Considering that beating the Clippers would have been hard enough even with a complete roster, the Blazers have to be kicking themselves for not being able to count on one of their key players because of such a silly mistake.
Here’s what McCollum said about it after the game:
The Clippers won the game 109-98.
McCollum is averaging a career-high 21 points and 4.4 assists per game in 36 contests.
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