Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons conducted on court drills without the aid of a cast or splint on Sunday for the first time since tearing the UCL in his right thumb.
Simons, who was initially labelled as out for 4-6 weeks, appears to been the longer side of that recovery timeline, with recent reports suggesting he remains another 2-3 weeks away from game action. The 24 year old has appeared in only 1 game this season, posting 18pts/4ast/2stl/2reb in 27 minutes of game time vs the Clippers on October 25th.
The former first round pick underwent successful surgery, performed by Steven S. Shin, MD at the Cedars Sinai/Kerlan-Jobe Surgery Center in Los Angeles, CA on October 31st. He’s currently expected to make a full recovery, without any limitations when he returns to NBA action.
Expectations for the 6th year veteran were high prior to going down with injury, as he was coming off the best statistical season of his young career. Across 62 games in 2022-23, Simons averaged 21.1pts/4.1ast/2.6reb while shooting 44.7% from the field.
While no one had Portland pegged as title contenders heading into the season, the general consensus was that with a young core of Scoot Henderson, Shaedon Sharpe, Simons, and the additions of Deandre Ayton, Robert Williams, and Malcolm Brogdon, they would at least begin to work their way out of the Western Conference basement.
Unfortunately, injuries have plagued the team out of the gates with Simons going down after 1 game, Henderson suffering an ankle injury after game 5 of the season, Brogdon being sidelined with a hamstring injury, and Williams requiring season ending surgery on his right knee. As a result, the club is currently mired in a 7 game losing streak, and have the 3rd worst record in the league at 3-10.
The team has been equally as disappointing at home (1-5) as they’ve been on the road (2-5) in their first season since moving on from franchise icon Damian Lillard. They’re also coming off one of their biggest losses of the season following a 43 point drubbing at the hands of the OKC Thunder Sunday.
The inexperienced squad won’t have long to dwell on that however as they’re back in action against the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday as part of the NBA’s In-Season Tournament.
Photo: FrenchieinPortland. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.