He’s just a year older than Toumani and two years older than Dame was when he was a rookie. I know him and Scoot could be an awkward match like Dame and CJ were, but he’s as much a part of the future of this team as anyone. I think we forget how young he still is because he’s been in the league for so long and as much as he’s progressed, there’s still a lot of room for him to grow. Can’t wait to see him back in action.
The good news is that they have him under a reasonable contract (~$26M) for the next two years. They can give the lineup of Scoot/Ant/Shaedon a chance to work and if it doesn’t they can trade him.
I still think Simons is the going to be the future for us. He already has paid his dues and will be the true heir to Dame. It’s so cool to see how close they ended up being despite the difference in age and the fact that Dame was so tight with CJ, he still managed to mentor and grow close with Simons and now we get to see what Dame predicted years ago that Simons was going to be the guy for this city when he is gone.
I understand people have their issues with Simons but I think this is going to be the year that everyone is going to realize that Simons is a future star. Not saying that Simons will reach Dame heights, but there was a clear leap that Dame kept taking year by year and once he turned 27 was when he went from All Star to All-Timer status through his progression. His first 5 years were amazing but his legendary work ethic kept going and from 2017-2023 was his peak years. I think if Simons can reach that if he continues to try to keep progressing like Dame did.
Regardless, I think Simons best years are ahead of him and people should be very excited about him.