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Anfernee Simons Agrees to Two-Year, $12.3M Deal with Sixers
By Matt Schultz
Published:
From Shams:
Anfernee Simons is a 6’3 combo guard who played the bulk of his 8-year career in Portland. During his prime years as a Trailblazer (his best four-year stretch was from 2021 to 2025), he averaged 19.9 points, 4.5 assists, and 2.8 rebounds per game while shooting 43.6% from the field, 38.1% from three (averaging 3.2 makes per game), and 90.1% from the free-throw line.
Portland traded Simons to Boston in July 2025, where his raw averages dipped because of a reduced role. Coming off the bench – which he hadn’t done regularly since 2020 – Simons averaged 14.2 points, 2.4 assists, and 2.4 rebounds while shooting 44.0% from the field and 39.5% from deep before Brad Stevens traded him and a second-round pick to the Chicago Bulls for Nikola Vučević.
In my opinion, this signing rules for the Sixers. With Quentin Grimes leaving for the Lakers, the Sixers needed to add scoring off the bench, and Simons is an upgrade with the ball in his hands and has a higher offensive ceiling. I’ve been a Simons guy for a while now. He was very good in Portland, and I never understood why Joe Mazzulla couldn’t get more out of him in Boston (probably a bad coach). The guy can get a bucket, plain and simple, and the idea of adding him at this price to what’s becoming one of the most dynamic Sixers offensive rosters we’ve ever seen is pretty exciting stuff.
Mike Gansey is cooking. Let’s go get LeBron too. Who says no.
Matt Schultz is a comedy and sports writer from Philadelphia. He’s written extensively for ClickHole, The Onion, and Conan O’Brien’s Team Coco. His work has been featured in Vulture, Deadspin, The A.V. Club, Paste Magazine, and other publications. Much of his sports journalism can be found on college basketball websites that don’t exist anymore (PhilaHoops Heads rise up…) email: M.Schultz@sportradar.com