Blazers’ Anfernee Simons Makes Portland History Despite Recent Loss

Despite the loss, the Blazers guard made some history.

Jan 2, 2025; Los Angeles, California, USA; Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons (1) looses control of the ball as he is chased dwn by Los Angeles Lakers guard Shake Milson in the first half at Crypto.com Arena. Mandatory Credit: Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images / Jayne Kamin-Oncea-Imagn Images

The Portland Trail Blazers are still trying to figure out who they want to be. Over the last few years, they have been a team that has a backcourt with small guards. That was the case with Damian Lillard and CJ McCollum when they were the starters for the Blazers.

That has also been the case this season with Anfernee Simons as one of the starters. Simons is a shorter guard who just can't handle some of the bigger guards in the league. He's in the starting lineup because he light up the stat sheet on the offensive side of the court.

That's exactly what Simons did against the Lakers. He led the team in scoring by pouring in 23 points in a 114-106 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers. Simons was 4-9 from the 3-point line, which was significant because of the bit of Portland history he made in the loss.

Making those threes moved him ahead of Wesley Matthews to third all-time in 3-point shots made in Trail Blazers history. He has 827 of them now. The only two Blazers who have more of them are McCollum and Lillard, both of which have over 1,200 of them for Portland.

.@AnferneeSimons has passed Wesley Matthews and moved into third place in @trailblazers history in career made 3-pointers.

1. Damian Lillard — 2,387
2. CJ McCollum — 1,297
3. Anfernee Simons — 827
4. Wesley Matthews — 826

— Trail Blazers PR (@TrailBlazersPR) January 3, 2025

Simons is a player who has an intriguing skillset. He's still just 25 years old, so he's a piece that the Blazers can build around if they so choose. He also could be on the trade block when the trade deadline approaches because he is one of the most valuable assets the team has.

Portland still has to figure out how they view Simons. If they view him as a core piece, they need to surround him with a bigger guard to make sure he doesn't get killed on defense. If they view him as a trade piece, they need to trade him this year to get the most they possibly can.

Until the trade deadline moves closer, Simons will continue to play his best basketball and try to lead the Blazers to as many wins as possible. Unfortunately, they have just 11 of them this season so far. It just hasn't been the kind of season that they were hoping to have.

Simons can make a lot of threes in a hurry. If he gets hot, they go down in bunches. His 3-point shooting is down this year, as he is only shooting 33 percent. He shoots it at 38 percent for his career, so the hope is for his shooting to get better later this year.

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