6 early Orlando Magic trade targets from struggling teams
By Kyle Langan
6 early Orlando Magic trade targets from struggling teams
Anfernee Simons, Portland Trail Blazers
Finally, the crown jewel that many Orlando natives and Orlando Magic fans are salivating for is guard Anfernee Simons. At age 24, he certainly jives with the youth movement of Orlando’s roster, and has already shown himself to be a dynamic scorer.
The long, bouncy guard, who played his high school ball at Edgewater High School in Orlando and was named for Anfernee Hardaway, possesses the fearlessness that is requisite to be a dominant scoring threat in the NBA.
He has stepped up too with some big scoring games in Damian Lillard's absence in the past. He averaged 21.7 points per game last year on a 54.8 percent effective field goal percentage and 37.7 percent shooting from three.
This year, acting as one of Portland's primary scorers after the team's big trade, he is averaging 25.7 points per game while maintaining some efficiency at a 53.0 percent effective field goal percentage. He is hitting 35.6 percent of his 8.4 3-point attempts per game so far this year.
Simons is in the second year of a four-year contract with an average annual value of $25 million. The last year of the deal, 2026 will equate to 17 percent of the salary cap.
Simons could quickly become a bargain. Especially if he is able to fit his scoring into the team the Magic are building. And they would know they have another potential primary scorer if needed.