{"id":57558,"date":"2023-10-28T10:42:38","date_gmt":"2023-10-28T14:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=57558"},"modified":"2023-10-28T10:42:38","modified_gmt":"2023-10-28T14:42:38","slug":"nba-rumors-how-portland-trail-blazers-replace-anfernee-simons-in-lineup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/10\/28\/nba-rumors-how-portland-trail-blazers-replace-anfernee-simons-in-lineup\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Rumors: Shaedon Sharpe Primed For Breakout Season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>After trading <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/09\/28\/damian-lillard-trade-grades\/\" target=\"_self\"><strong>Damian Lillard<\/strong><\/a> to the Milwaukee Bucks,\u00a0 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/simonan01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Anfernee Simons<\/strong><\/a> was entrusted to lead the Portland Trail <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/04\/20\/potential-portland-trail-blazers-backcourt-shakeup-could-anfernee-simons-or-shaeden-sharpe-be-traded\/\" target=\"_self\">Blazers&#8217;\u00a0 young backcourt.<\/a> However, that plan lasted just one game as Simons suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb as Portland fell to 127-111 on Wednesday night. According to the Athletic&#8217;s Shams Charania, Simons will undergo surgery on the thumb and is expected to miss four-to-six weeks.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Trail Blazers say Anfernee Simons will undergo surgery for a UCL tear in right thumb and is expected to miss 4 to 6 weeks.<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ShamsCharania\/status\/1718014623700660667?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">October 27, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h2>NBA Rumors: Shaedon Sharpe Primed For Breakout Season<\/h2>\n<p>Simons got hurt in the fourth quarter on Wednesday. Before leaving the game, the 24-year-old combo guard was having an excellent debut. Simons finished with 18 points against the Clippers on 6 of 14 shooting, including 2 of 6 from the 3-point line. He also came up with four assists and two steals.<\/p>\n<p>The injury is a significant setback for both Simons, who signed a four-year, $100 million extension in July. Simons was coming off a career season last year and was expected to take another step in his development. However, he has failed to stay healthy yet again. With <a href=\"https:\/\/bleacherreport.com\/articles\/10095096-blazers-anfernee-simons-expected-to-be-out-4-6-weeks-after-surgery-on-thumb-injury\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bleacher Report&#8217;s<\/a> projection of a December 11 return, <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/07\/28\/2023-24-nba-power-rankings-offseason-edition-no-26-portland-trail-blazers\/\" target=\"_self\">Portland&#8217;<\/a>s 20th game means that Simons will play fewer than 64 games for the fourth straight year. The 2018 first-round pick has played 70 games just once.<\/p>\n<p>Here are a few thoughts from the <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/5006168\/2023\/10\/27\/blazers-anfernee-simons-thumb-injury\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Athletic&#8217;s Jason Quick<\/a> on what Simons&#8217; injury means to Portland.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Already a leading contender for finishing with the NBA\u2019s worst record, Simons\u2019 injury will likely ensure the Blazers finish with a bottom-three record. He was their leading returning scorer from last season, and he was one of the few bright spots in Portland\u2019s season-opening loss at the Clippers. On a team short on experience and familiarity with the offense, Simons was essential to the Blazers\u2019 hope to be competitive. &#8220;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Simons started alongside Scoot Henderson in the season opener. While the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/05\/19\/nba-rumors-portland-trail-blazers-look-to-trade-no-3-pick\/\" target=\"_self\">No. 3 overall pick<\/a> in this year&#8217;s draft finished with 11 points, on 5 of 11 shooting, he was 0 of 3 from the beyond theard. Henderson also had four assists and four turnovers while posting a -16 plus\/minus.<\/p>\n<h3>Who Takes Simons&#8217; Spot At Shooting Guard?<\/h3>\n<p>As expected, second-year pro <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sharpsh01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Shaedon Sharpe<\/strong> <\/a>started in place of Simon against the Orlando Magic on Friday. Sharpe is <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2023\/08\/12\/nba-players-poised-to-have-a-breakout-year-in-2023-24\/\" target=\"_self\">expected to be the starter<\/a> for the immediate future.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;More Shannon Sharpe. If there is a silver lining to Simons\u2019 absence, it\u2019s the opening it creates for Sharpe, the promising second-year wing, Quick wrote. &#8220;Sharpe is one of the three young pillars of the Blazers\u2019 rebuild. At the end of last season, Sharpe showed he has the qualities to be a go-to-player, averaging 23.7 points in the season\u2019s final 10 games.&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>After a solid 2023-24 season debut, Sharpe led the way in the Blazers 102-97 setback to the Orlando Magic on Friday night. Sharpe poured in a game-high 24 points in 41 minutes. While he was highly inefficient, making just 9 of 23 shots from the field, Sharpe did knock down 4 of 11 3-pointers. The 6-5 wing also grabbed five rebounds, doled two assists, and came up with a pair of steals.<\/p>\n<p>Sharpe does have a few things to continue to work on. First and foremost, the 20-year-old needs to be a more consistent shooter. He also needs to get to the free-throw line much more. Sharpe averaged 1.3 free throws last year and is 3 of 3 from the charity stripe this season.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/brogdma01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>Malcolm Brogdon<\/strong><\/a> will also see a bump in on-court time with Simons out. The reigning NBA Sixth Man of the Year saw 31 minutes of action after seeing 23 minutes in the season opener. Brogdon is off to a good start as he averages 19.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 3.0 assists through the first two games. He is shooting 45.2% from the field and 45.5% from the 3-point line.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After trading Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks,\u00a0 Anfernee Simons was entrusted to lead the Portland Trail Blazers&#8217;\u00a0 young backcourt. However, that plan lasted just one game as Simons suffered a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his right thumb as Portland fell to 127-111 on Wednesday night. According to the Athletic&#8217;s Shams Charania, Simons will [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3146,"featured_media":57675,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,23],"tags":[1559,609,4702,4600],"class_list":["post-57558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-trailblazers","tag-anfernee-simons","tag-malcolm-brogdon","tag-scoot-henderson","tag-shaedon-sharpe"],"modified_by":"Daniel Benjamin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}