Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons, one of the team’s most popular trade targets, faces a change year in 2024-25 even if he remains in Rip City.
If he stays in town at least to start the year, The 6-foot-3 veteran is expected to be moved from his role as Portland’s starting shooting guard in 2023-24 to become the Blazers’ starting point guardahead of Malcolm Brogdon, now traded, and Scoot Henderson, third pick in the 2023 draft.
It’s funny that Simons, 25, was recently considered a top-20 shooting guard before the season began.
Learn more: Trail Blazers’ Anfernee Simons ranks among NBA’s top 20 shooting guards in new rankings
But of course, Simons has a tempting contract and is a reliable sniper. After putting together the best individual performance of his career in 2023-24 (despite his team’s record of just 21-61), the guard would be a major potential commercial asset for the club.
In 46 healthy games last season, Simons averaged 22.6 points on a .430/.385/.916 shooting average, along with 5.5 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 0.5 steals per game. That 3-point rate came on 8.8 long-range attempts per game, an incredibly convincing showing.
According to Chris Dodson of ClutchPointsSimons isn’t considered a major part of the team’s long-term outlook. So it might make sense for the team to get rid of his contract sooner rather than later, both to give 2022 lottery pick Shaedon Sharpe some more time and also to save some money.
“Simons has become a secondary piece to Portland’s championship-winning core, even though he was the team’s leading scorer last season,” Dodson wrote. “The 25-year-old has all the pieces to be a solid playoff contributor, but he hasn’t quite put it together yet… Simons also has two years and $53.6 million remaining on his current contract, making him very attractive to contenders facing pressure from the new CBA.”
“Bold prediction: Simons will be sold for spare parts at the trade deadline after a seemingly larger deal was taken off the table,” Dodson concludes. “Spare parts” isn’t exactly the haul you’d want if you were to get rid of a player as prolific as Simons.
Portland might want to seek a trade partner who could at least give it back a potential lottery pick, even if that pick is at least protected in the top 10.
More Trail Blazers: Former Portland great returns to Western rival on training camp deal
