Two of the past three winners of the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year Award have been Boston Celtics players. In 2023, it was Malcolm Brogdon who received the recognition, and of course, Payton Pritchard earned the honor last season.
Sparkplug-type guards have been a staple in Boston during the franchise’s recent era of success. Though expectations aren’t as high entering the 2025-26 campaign, the Sixth Man of the Year dynasty may not be dead.
Newcomer Anfernee Simons, who joined the Cs back in June as part of the trade that sent Jrue Holiday to the Portland Trail Blazers, fits the same sort of mold as both Brogdon and Pritchard. He’s a prolific scorer on multiple levels who also happens to be a great three-point shooter.
It’s a bit odd to compare Simons to Pritchard, considering the two will be sharing minutes as teammates this year, but if the Celtics decide they want to elevate Pritchard to the starting spot, then Simons should slide seamlessly into the sixth man role.
Things should be easier for Anfernee Simons with Celtics
Having been the first or second option in Portland for the past few seasons, Simons saw the majority of the opposing defense’s focus on a nightly basis. Even so, he was able to finish last season strong, despite stumbling a bit out of the gate.
The 26-year-old averaged 21.3 points per game in his final 39 appearances as a Blazer while knocking down 46% of his attempts from the field and 40% from beyond the arc.
He may not be asked to score at such a high volume in Boston, playing alongside Pritchard, Derrick White, and Jaylen Brown, but the floor is almost certainly going to open up more for him. Teams shouldn’t be as keen to try and neutralize him, while the other Celtics are just as much, if not more, of a threat offensively.
It’s going to be interesting to see how well the new No. 4 handles the change in role, though. There’s no guarantee that he’s going to be gung-ho to take fewer shots and play without the ball in his hands more. Players don’t get to the NBA without some form of irrational confidence, after all.
If he does buy in, though, there’s a real chance that he can be a serious floor-raiser for this team. With Jayson Tatum recovering from a ruptured Achilles, they’re going to need all of the scoring they can get. Plus, with the lack of expectations for Boston, especially on the national scale, the shock factor of overachievement could do a lot for Simons’ potential Sixth Man of the Year campaign.