Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons really emerged last season without Damian Lillard in the backcourt next to him.

Simons took the reins as the top scoring guard and had some of the best numbers in his career, averaging 22.6 points, 5.5 assists, 3.6 rebounds per game while shooting 38.5 percent from downtown in 46 games appearances for the Blazers.

That’s part of the reason why HoopsHype writer Frank Urbina listed Simons as the 17th-best shooting guard in his league-wide ranking.

Blazers 2-guard (for now) Anfernee Simons might not even be in Portland by the time the season starts, as the 25-year-old has been the subject of various trade rumors this offseason, which makes sense since the team still in the early stages of a rebuild and not all that close to even playoff contention.

Simons has quietly been quite effective for the past couple of seasons, averaging 21.7 points and 4.7 assists on 38.1 percent shooting from three over the past two campaigns combined. Further boosting his potential trade value for the Blazers is the fact that he can play on- or off-ball guard, making him a versatile weapon on offense.

We’ll see what the future holds for the exciting IMG Academy product but be it in Portland or elsewhere, the explosive Simons with good off-the-dribble scoring chops should continue to put up good numbers in 2024-25.

The Blazers know how good Simons is and how much better he can be, which is part of the reason why they are hesitant to trade him to another team. The best players on rebuilding rosters are trade chips, and the Blazers have a good one in Simons, so they don’t want to take just any deal for him.

Otherwise, he can stay right in Portland continuing to drive his stock forward.