Although the Portland Trail Blazers fell to a miserable 21-61 record during the 2023-24 NBA season, one young Portland star in particular emerged to have his best season yet — thanks in no small part to the departure of Damian Lillard. The Trail Blazers’ former offensive fulcrum forced his way out of town, and landed with the Milwaukee Bucks late into the 2023 offseason. Starting Portland shooting guard Anfernee Simons took full advantage of the void sans Lillard.

In a fresh ranking of the league’s top 30 shooting guards, Frank Urbina of HoopsHype ranks Simons as the No. 17-best player at the position heading into the 2024-25 season. Simons finds himself sandwiched between No. 16-ranked New York Knicks swingman Donte DiVincenzo and No. 18-ranked Toronto Raptors shooting guard/small forward RJ Barrett.

Urbina notes that Simons, still just 25, has oft been floated in trade rumors this summer, and appears skeptical that the 6-foot-3 vet will finish the year with the Trail Blazers. Given that Portland seems poised to kick off a full-scale rebuild surrounding young star guards Scott Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe, neither of whom is yet 22, and has already flipped one well-compensated veteran (point guard Malcolm Brogdon) this summer, it’s understandable that general manager Joe Cronin is fielding calls, Urbina posits.

Simons’ ability to serve as both a primary playmaker and an off-ball creator could be tantilizing attributes for rival clubs, opines Urbina.

“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,” Urbina writes.

Across 46 contests (all starts) last season, Simons averaged 22.6 points on a .430/.385/.916 slash line, 5.5 assists, 3.6 rebounds, and 0.5 steals a night. His 38.5 percent 3-point shooting mark arrived on a robust 8.8 triple tries per bout.

The Trail Blazers don’t figure to be a factor in the playoffs for many years to come. Simons may deserve a real postseason stage to show off what he can do. Is his ultimate destiny on a good team being a Malik Monk (the No. 14-ranked shooting guard) sixth man type, an energy-changing bench scorer, or could he carve out a niche as an undersized off-guard in a starting backcourt, perhaps next to a bulldog starting defender at the point? Or could Simons be shifted into a non-traditional point guard role?

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