Damian Lillard drops 3-word reaction on Anfernee Simons filling his shoes on Trailblazers

The Portland Trail Blazers are still in the midst of finding a new star following the Damian Lillard era. Lillard himself appears to have performed the symbolic passing of the torch to one of the Blazers' young guys by sharing a photo on his Instagram account.

The Blazers have several young players with promising futures who were lottery picks. However, the player who was featured in Lillard's post was someone who was taken outside of the lottery and was someone he got to share the court with in Portland. That player is Anfernee Simons, who was taken 24th overall in 2018. Lillard shared a photo of him and Simons hugging.

"Pass it on...," Lillard wrote.

Damian Lillard's IG story (Photo credits: @damianlillard/Instagram)

Simons and Lillard played together from 2018 to 2023. This ended when Lillard was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks in a massive three-team trade that also involved the Phoenix Suns.

The Blazers received Deandre Ayton, Toumani Camara, Jrue Holiday, a 2029 first-round pick from Milwaukee, and a pick swap in 2028 and 2030. Meanwhile, the Suns acquired Grayson Allen, Keon Johnson, Nassir Little, and Jusuf Nurkic.

Simons had his breakout year in 2021-22 when he averaged 17.3 points and 3.9 assists. In the three seasons prior, he only averaged a combined 7.5 ppg and 1.3 apg. He further blossomed into a reliable scoring option in Lillard's final season in Portland, averaging 21.1 ppg and 4.1 apg.

His improvement continued slightly in the first season without Lillard. That year, he averaged 22.6 ppg and 5.5 apg.

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Anfernee Simons outdueled Damian Lillard in their last meeting

The Milwaukee Bucks and the Portland Trail Blazers clashed on Saturday at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee. In that game, Damian Lillard struggled, putting up only 16 points on a 5-for-15 shooting clip (2-for-7 from the 3-point line). He also had six assists and four steals, as well as three turnovers.

Meanwhile, Anfernee Simons led all Blazers scorers, sinking nine of his 20 attempts (5-for-12 from beyond the arc, 5-for-5 on free throws) for 28 points. He also dished eight assists and turned the ball over four times.

In fact, the only person who played that day that scored more than Simons was Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Greek Freak scored 31 and grabbed 11 rebounds. Aside from Dame and Giannis, the only other player to score in double-digits for the Bucks was A.J. Green, who contributed 21 off the bench.

Despite the strong scoring performances from these three Bucks players, they still fell short, 105-102.