I think CJ playing well without Damian is a sign that CJ is not going to be with us long term (unless something bad happens to Damian). As I've said elsewhere, it reminds me of the Reggie-Jackson-in-OKC situation. Last season when Westbrook was out, Jackson was putting up insane numbers (although, admittedly, OKC were losing badly) and it became pretty clear that he'd want his own starring role.
Now, it was different in OKC in that Jackson was never a starter alongside Westbrook, while CJ is, but we just look more balanced, and we match up better (and are better defensively), with one of CJ or Lillard at the 1 and Crabbe at the 2.
So... where will CJ land? If we're like OKC, we'll want to trade him before he leaves as a FA. The trouble is, other teams probably think they can wait it out. At least, that would be true of teams like Philly who always have tons of capspace. But it might be kind of cool to see him end up on a contender.
Here's the hard part: I can actually see him working really well in San Antonio. He'd be a sort of super-duper Gary Neal for them and ease into the Ginobili role when he finally retires. But who could they offer us?
Of course, I want Boban, but as he's only on a one year contract, that wouldn't be much (and it's still unclear if he really works as an NBA player,
even though he's putting up insane numbers (including the best PER in the entire league) in very limited minutes.) Perhaps the key player I'd want, given that they're not going to give up Kawhi Leonard, would be
Kyle Anderson. That might not seem like much of a get given how good CJ is looking for us, but I think he's ready to break out, and indeed would have already if he wasn't on the Spurs. (Popovich has even been quoted as saying "I've got to find minutes for that guy" - which is about as high praise as he ever gives.) Anderson is like Ben Simmons recovering from being chained in a basement for six months and fed starvation rations. Which is to say that he's insanely talented for somebody as tall as he is, even if he's skinny and appears to be playing underwater. But most importantly he would complement the rest of the roster much better than CJ does, even if he may never score like CJ. Remember that he was MVP in Summer League:
I would seriously do Anderson + Boban (maybe + pick?) for CJ, but only because I think CJ will never reach his full potential playing alongside Damian (and because our defense suffers).
I might be the ONLY one on this board who wouldn't howl in outrage at that, though, so perhaps we could try to include a swap of Henderson for Danny Green, who seems to be underperforming a bit for them.
