The Cleveland Cavaliers found a trading partner for Kevin Porter Jr. after his explosion in the locker room last week.
The Cavaliers agreed to send Porter to the Houston Rockets on Thursday night in exchange for a future draft choice for the second round, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Porter’s alleged explosion in the locker room
Porter, 20, averaged 10 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists in 50 games last season, his first in the league. The Seattle native, however, has not yet played this season for personal reasons.
He was involved in a car accident in November and was accused of “improper handling of firearms in a motor vehicle, transporting a loaded weapon in a motor vehicle accessible to the operator or any passenger without leaving the vehicle”. These charges were later dismissed, although two women filed a police report a few days later, claiming that they were attacked by Porter in an unrelated incident.
Porter reportedly got angry in his locker room last week after learning that the team had given his old locker to Taurean Prince, which the Cavaliers acquired in the successful business that sent James Harden to Brooklyn. He reportedly started shouting and throwing food and remained combative when general manager Koby Altman came in and confronted him.
JB Bickerstaff reportedly came from his office after hearing the commotion too, and was “shocked and disgusted by what he heard”.
The team was either determined to find an exchange for it or planned to release it.
Although Porter’s tumultuous last few months and issues out of court have loomed over him, the move to Houston could be a good change of pace. Considering that the Rockets – who are planning to dismiss Chris Clemons to open a vacancy for him – are in the middle of a rebuild after losing Harden and Russel Westbrook, he must have plenty of opportunities.
Whether he will take advantage of them, however, remains to be seen.
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