Making it to the NBA All-Star teams is getting exceedingly difficult with the league’s talent pool expanding every year. However, young stars are still breaking through the glass ceiling to rub shoulders with the NBA’s elite, like Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey did in the previous edition of the contest. NBA legend Tracy McGrady predicts a similar trajectory for Portland Trail Blazers’ Anfernee Simons this season.
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The former Orlando Magic star thinks most NBA fans are sleeping on Simons because of the Trail Blazers’ poor form. But McGrady is confident that Simons will continue to elevate his game like he has been doing the past few seasons.
“This year, Anfernee Simons is gonna put everyone on notice. Now Portland is not going to be that great of a basketball team. But just look out for Simons, man. He’s coming,” McGrady said on his Instagram.
“You seen the progression of somebody like Tyrese Maxey. I think he’s on the same trajectory of rising to stardom in our league,” the 45-year-old added.
McGrady also mentioned the importance of someone like Chauncey Billups developing the young star. He thinks that that’s the only reason Simons should stay in Portland despite the team’s diminishing prospects.
McGrady has rightly traced that Simons is on the incline. The 6-feet-3 guard has been hitting the 20 points per game mark for the past two seasons. Last year, he averaged 22.6 points, 5.5 assists, and 3.6 rebounds, which are borderline All-Star numbers.
To put things in perspective, Maxey averaged 25.9 points, 6.2 assists, and 3.7 rebounds in the 2023-24 season. But the key difference is that the 6-feet-2 guard took the 76ers to the postseason, where he averaged 29.8 points, 6.8 assists, and 5.2 rebounds per game.
On the other hand, Simons’ Blazers finished rock bottom in the Western Conference standings last season and had a similar standing before the All-Star break as well. Considering how a player’s team’s standing is factored into the All-Star voting, Simons could lose out this year because the Blazers’ prospects are not looking good this season as well.
In 2023-24, even the likes of Domantas Sabonis didn’t make it to the ASG despite the Sacramento Kings loitering around the playoff threshold. So Simons would have do something extraordinary to make the cut. However, he will have the opportunity to average big numbers this year since there’s not a lot of scoring firepower in the organization.
In any case, Simons’ priority will be to show up for his team throughout the season. He played only 46 games in 2023-24 and has recorded a 70-game season only once in his six-year NBA career (2019-20).
So the All-Star game seems far away at the moment for the 25-year-old despite McGrady’s endorsement. Instead, he should focus on staying healthy and averaging decent numbers this season to improve his prospects for the 2025-26 season.
