As the 2025 NBA Playoffs chug onward and the Portland Trail Blazers await their fate in the NBA Draft Lottery, we’re taking a look at the performance of Portland’s current roster during the 2024-25 season. So far we’ve talked about Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Jerami Grant, Deandre Ayton, and Donovan Clingan. Today we’re examining Portland’s lead point-producer, guard Anfernee Simons.

The Good

Simons remains a fairly efficient scorer, hitting nearly 50% of his two-pointers, shooting over 90% from the foul line, ranking 35th among NBA guards in effective field goal percentage (88th among all players). It could be better, but for a guy with his job description, that’s not bad. His 19.3 points per game led the Blazers this season. He’s in a virtual tie with Shaedon Sharpe for the team high in points per minute and possession.

Simons is also second to Scoot Henderson in assists per game, assists per possession and minute, and assist percentage.

Simons’ turnovers dropped significantly this year, from 2.7 to 2.0 per game, 3.9 to 3.0 per 100 possessions. That was a welcome sight on a team that commits far too many.

The Bad

All of Simons’ strong stats declined this season. His scoring dropped from 22.6 points to 19.3 per game. He took 2 fewer field goal attempts than he did last season while maintaining a near-steady overall field goal percentage of 42.6%. But his three-point percentage dropped from 38.5% to 36.3%. Last year’s rate was already below the 40% average he maintained between 2020 and 2022. Sinking farther was not a good sign, especially since he takes more than half of his shots from range.

Simons’ assist total and rates dropped even as the Blazers experimented with him more as an offense initiator.

Defense is not a strong suit for Simons. He has the worst defensive rating of any Blazers rotation player, also trailing in defensive box plus/minus and defensive win shares.

Simons joins fellow veterans Jerami Grant and Deandre Ayton as the only rotation players with a -5 or worse on-court plus/minus per 100 possessions, -4 or worse net plus/minus.

The Analysis

In his seventh NBA season, Anfernee Simons showed that he is what he is: a fairly proficient scorer with enough passing instincts to get by and enough defensive deficiencies to cause concern. His brilliance on the offensive end carried the Blazers through multiple wins, games in which only his scoring could save them. He stood out in that way. Those were balanced by games when opposing offenses headhunted him as he struggled to defend. Playing next to Toumani Camara and Deni Avdija highlighted his inability to contain on the perimeter, intimidate on the interior.

Simons is a good player. Just when he’s expected to grow, however, he’s shrinking. His offensive production is dwindling as the team becomes more populated. The other areas of his game aren’t improving. Simons should be leaping onto the dance floor John Travolta style. Instead he appears to be checking his hair and spraying Binaca. When do we get to see the star debut? One suspects it might not be coming.

What’s Next?

This creates a quandary for the Blazers. Simons is their best scorer, one of their prime players. But he’s not great and he’s not growing. Is the rest of the roster starting to overtake him? Can he play as part of a contending starting lineup?

Portland will need to answer some the questions surrounding Simons. His contract expires next season. The Blazers have the option to offer him an extension this summer, let him play out his contract, or trade him.

The Blazers are not in position to ride an offense-only player to the next level, not when that player produces 19 points per game instead of 29. Nor can they make Simons a sixth man; their roster isn’t strong enough to justify it. That leaves them in the unenviable position of holding a fairly decent tool without having the right thing to build with it. Simons is a flat-head screwdriver. All of their screws are Phillips.

That should make trading the 26-year-old guard a viable option. But trading the high scorer—one of a few three-point shooters—off of a team already impoverished on offense is not an easy move.

The wind is blowing two ways with Simons. He hasn’t put up a strong enough performance to make him more than a banner flowing in it. The Blazers will need to decide which direction to sail: keep Simons’ scoring and shooting in order to preserve the current growth curve or build towards a more viable, complete long-term roster. The cost of losing Ant could be dear. Keeping him could be equally expensive.

Ultimately beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We’re going to find out how the eyes of Joe Cronin and company see Simons this summer. Stay tuned.