The New Orleans Pelicans and C.J. McCollum have reached an agreement over a two-year, $64 million contract extension, his agent, Sam Goldfeder of Excel Sports, told ESPN on Saturday.

McCollum still has two years left on his deal with the Pelicans worth about $69 million. He averaged 24.3 points, 5.8 assists and 2.7 triples at 39.4 percent in 26 games since he was traded to the team by the Portland Trail Blazers in February.

His impact with the Pelicans was immediate, as the team went 13-13 after his arrival, an improvement on their 23-33 record before he joined. The team qualified for the play-in tournament, where they eliminated the San Antonio Spurs and Los Angeles Clippers to qualify for the postseason. Then the Pelicans played a close, six-game series against the Phoenix Suns, which won 28 more games than them in the regular season.

McCollum is one of the league's only six active players to average 20+ points in each of the past seven seasons – the other five are Anthony Davis, DeMar DeRozan, LeBron James, Paul George and James Harden. Though he spent most of his time in Rip City playing as the second-in-command along with Damian Lillard, McCollum was totally able to carry the team's offense when he had to do so.

The Pelicans will have their promising young man Zion Williamson back for the 2022-23 season. Though Williamson doesn't shoot well in the middle- and long-range, his finishing ability under the rim and dominance on offensive rebounds will further enhance the Pelicans' merits on these two fronts. That will give the team more reasons to target something bigger than a playoff berth.

Of course, the franchise is far from perfect. Their spacing was already one of the worst in the NBA last season. The return of Williamson will only make it worse. Moreover, when he was playing previously, his usage rate was 30 percent, bigger than any of the Pelicans last season. Even if he needs to be under load management for health concerns in the first couple of months of the new season, it will take the rest of the team and head coach Willie Green some time to build new chemistry.