On the Tuesday before the NBA’s trade deadline, Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons was asleep in his Portland home when his girlfriend, Breonna Hudson, woke him up and delivered news poised to alter his career. “It happened,” she told Simons abruptly. CJ McCollum, who had played his first nine NBA seasons in Portland and had mentored Simons for the past four, was traded to the Pelicans in one of the biggest midseason moves of the year.

McCollum had been transparent with his teammates about the prospect of a possible deal. He said as much in a Players Tribune essay. Still, as Simons says, “For it to actually come true was a surreal moment, because he’s one of those people who you never thought would leave.”

Portland’s decision to send McCollum to New Orleans comes with a number of implications about the franchise’s plans, including what it means for Simons, who will be a restricted free agent this summer. In Simons’s mind, the trade showed that he’s part of the future in Portland. “I have a management that really believes in me and wants to see me succeed,” he says, “and wants me to help them reach a championship-level.”

The 22-year-old guard has proved his worth this year. Since Jan. 1, he is averaging a team-high 23.6 points and 6.1 assists in 36.1 minutes of action. A season after he started just five games, he has emerged as one of the front-runners for the league’s Most Improved Player award.

But Simons’s path to becoming Portland’s next great guard has been far from linear. In fact, when Simons entered the league, his trainer, Phil Beckner, identified a key area in which the guard needed to grow right away. Sure, Simons had room to improve his jumper and defensive positioning, but those things were secondary.

“He had no presence whatsoever,” Beckner says.