JULY 6: Simons’ new deal is now official, the Trail Blazers confirmed in a press release.
“Anfernee is already one of the league’s top shooters and this past season he showed elite ability as a shot creator and distributor,” GM Joe Cronin said as part of a larger statement. “We are excited for him to continue the growth he has shown in his first four seasons in Portland.”
The team announced its new deal with center Jusuf Nurkic within the same release.
JUNE 30: The Trail Blazers and restricted free agent guard Anfernee Simons have agreed to a four-year contract worth $100MM, agent Bill Duffy tells Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link).
Reports leading up to free agency suggested Simons would likely be in line for a deal worth $80MM over four years, so it appears he did better than anticipated. It’s also possible that $100MM is the max Simons could earn on the new contract after incentives and the base value is lower.
Simons, who turned 23 earlier this month, had a breakout fourth season with Portland, posting career-highs in points (17.3), rebounds (2.6) and assists (3.9) in 57 games (30 starts, 29.5 minutes per night). He also had a very respectable .443/.405/.888 shooting line, good for a 58.3 true shooting percentage.
While Simons certainly earned a significant raise on the $3.9MM he made last season, there are some questions about how he might fit next to another ball dominant player like fellow guard Damian Lillard. Simons’ emergence came on the heels of injuries to Lillard and CJ McCollum, who was later traded to New Orleans.
For example, Simons averaged 12.1 points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists on .426/.385/.935 shooting (55.1% true) in 27 games (24.1 minutes) as a reserve in 2021/22, versus 22 points, 2.8 rebounds and 5.5 assists on .452/.415/.871 shooting (60% true) in 30 games (34.3 minutes) as a starter. He functioned as the primary ball-handler while starting and thrived in the role.
Simons is an excellent athlete, but he’s not very strong and has been a poor defender to this point in his career. Still, he’s young and could improve with time.
Mistake.
Obviously you haven’t watched any Blazers games this past season…
The dude can flat out score, but not sure why they’d pay him that much if he’s not going to shoot the ball as much with Lillard coming back
Dude had one good year. Lol
So did Brunson… So what
Dude went from fringe nba to 9 figures
Should of been flipped in a sign-and-trade
Sheesh
Good for Portland!!!
Yikes. I think the market for Sexton has been set at minimum, $20 mil per.
Overpay
It’s not an overpay. The Knicks have reset the market. If Brunson’s worth 4/$110 million Simons is worth 4/$100.
Knicks are idiots tho.
Can’t play a lick of defense and still a work in progress as a primary ball-handler. Maybe he’s worth this eventually, but he is not worth it right now based on a strong half-season. Won’t be nearly the worst deal signed today, though.
That is a lot..tyler herro and jordan poole are about to get paaiidd. But honestly, with Devine booker getting his deal, and some of the other ones, it’s not surprising. He needs to improve with his decision making and significantly on defense. Having guys around him will help, but that is definitely a big issue, especially if he is going to be on the floor with Lillard
Simons has to attack constantly to be good for the team.
He has not played that many minutes, and his PER just creeped above 15.0. Pretty small.
Shaedon Sharpe is also in the picture, also kind of a college-skipper.
Who would have bid more than $80mil? I think none. Overpay.
Who’s better today between Simons and GTrent, Jr.?
Trent