Vince Carter Believes Blazers Star Anfernee Simons Will Be 'Sought After'

Hall of Fame former NBA shooting guard/small forward Vince Carter — who currently is tied with 21-time All-Star Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James for the most seasons played in the history of the league with 22 — likes what he's seen out of young Portland Trail Blazers point guard Anfernee Simons this season.
Carter, now a broadcaster on TNT and the Yes Network, spoke at length during the halftime break of Portland's 125-112 upset victory over the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday about how Simons could be an intriguing trade target at next week's February 6 deadline.
"He's a guy that's gonna be a great pickup for a playoff team" 🫣@mrvincecarter15 was singing Anfernee Simons' praises after his strong first half 🤝 pic.twitter.com/BqreH8vl7Q
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) January 29, 2025
"Anfernee Simons [has] just been playing great basketball. He can score at all levels," Carter raved.
Against the Bucks, Simons scored 25 points on 9-of-17 shooting from the floor (4-of-8 from deep) and 3-of-3 shooting from the charity stripe, while also dishing out seven assists and grabbing three rebounds in 38:21 of action.
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"Playing with a lot of confidence, and he's a guy that's gonna be a great pickup for a playoff team if they need one," Carter added. "Anfernee Simons is going to be sought after."
Simons was shifted to a new role this season, as Portland's permanent starting point guard, after serving as something of an undersized, CJ McCollum-esque starting shooting guard for the Trail Blazers in the years prior.
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Simons is in the third season of a quite reasonable four-year, $100 million deal he inked with Portland as a restricted free agent in 2022. This season, he's earning $25.9 million — a pretty reasonable sum for a scoring guard at his level.
Whether Simons' ultimate future is to be an elite Lou WIlliams/Jamal Crawford-esque sixth man or a score-first starting point guard remains to be seen. He only blossomed for Portland after McCollum was dealt to the New Orleans Pelicans, so we've never seen him playing at his current ability on a good team.
The 6-foot-3 guard, 25, is averaging 18.5 points on .426/.372/.904 shooting splits across his 43 healthy contests this season, along with 4.8 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 0.8 steals a night.
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