Simons stepped into a larger role in his second NBA season, appearing in 70 games and averaging 20.7 minutes per contest -- up from just 7.1 a year earlier. Simons posted career-highs in points (8.3), rebounds (2.2) and assists (1.4) per game, in addition to hitting a career-best 82.6 percent of his free throws. The 2018 first-round pick reached the 20-point plateau on two occasions, including in the final game before the All-Star break, when he went for 22 points and seven rebounds against the Grizzlies. Simons also had 20 points in 24 minutes in a win over Atlanta on Nov. 10. In a Dec. 26 game against Utah, Simons posted a 15-point, 10-rebound double-double in 28 minutes off the bench. Simons appeared in five of the Blazers' seeding games in the Orlando bubble, as well as four of the team's five playoff matchups against the Lakers in Round 1. In Game 5 of the series, Simons set a career-playoff-high with 13 points, to go with five boards, two assists and four steals. In Game 4, he posted six assists and five rebounds.

After being selected by the Trail Blazers with the 24th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, Simons appeared in 20 NBA games and four G-League contests as a rookie. At the NBA level, Simons averaged 3.8 points per game and shot 44.4 percent from the field, including 34.5 percent from three. In the G-League, the 19-year-old scored 17.8 points in just 22.8 minutes per contest. Simons played sparingly for the Trail Blazers, but he logged a full 48 minutes in the final game of the regular season on April 10 against Sacramento. In that game, Simons went for a career-high 37 points on 13-of-21 shooting. He hit seven of 11 three-point attempts and added nine assists, six rebounds and one steal.