Bleacher Report's Greg Swartz recently proposed "No-Brainer NBA Trade Ideas," one of which involved sending Anfernee Simons to his popular and long-rumored landing spot: the Orlando Magic.
Here is the deal in its entirety:
Orlando finally lands an offensive-minded guard to complement Jalen Suggs in the backcourt, providing floor spacing and secondary playmaking for stars Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner.
The Magic finished dead last in three-point shooting this season and desperately need a flamethrower like Simons, a career 38.1 percent shooter from beyond the arc who is just entering his prime at 25 years old.
Credit to Swartz, as this is a rare win-win trade proposal for both parties.
This deal isn't a home run, but the Blazers should still take it
Anthony Black would be an excellent addition to Portland's young core as a rising two-way guard. He's just 21 years old and fits in perfectly with their identity as a versatile defender at 6-foot-7.
Black is a below-average shooter, which makes the floor spacing clunky for a Blazers team that also desperately needs help in that department. But there's a serious upside here if he can improve that aspect of his game.
Compared to Simons, Black would be a younger, cheaper alternative as a combo guard who could come off the bench to spell Scoot Henderson and Shaedon Sharpe.
Kentavious Caldwell-Pope was once a coveted asset, but his declining play makes him more of a salary filler here. He's overpaid, but a decent buy-low option to help compensate for the shooting Portland would be losing by moving Simons.
Some Blazers fans may want a larger return for one of their best players, but Simons' expiring contract means that Portland either needs to trade or overpay him. The former is preferable to give their young backcourt the keys and preserve financial flexibility.
Black could be a real asset to have as part of their young core and would also allow Portland to spend two first-round picks on addressing their wing/forward depth. It's more difficult to project who will be available late in the first round due to the volatility, but some potential sleepers Portland could take a flier on in that range include Hugo Gonzalez, Rasheer Fleming, or Noah Penda.
Trading Simons is a necessary step for the Blazers to make as they navigate this challenging phase of their rebuild, and ideally, it happens this summer, while his value is higher and teams have more flexibility to make a move.
It isn't necessarily a home run for the Blazers. In a perfect world, they would land Black as well as Orlando's No. 16 overall pick instead of Denver's. However, there needs to be a sense of urgency to move Simons, and this trade should be enough to pull the trigger.