Kevin Porter Jr. is being traded to the Houston Rockets, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania. The Cleveland Cavaliers will receive a protected choice in the second round of the deal. Porter, the 30th overall choice in the 2019 NBA Draft, spent his debut season in Cleveland, but has not played until now due to personal problems.
Porter originally dropped to 30th position, largely thanks to concerns about the character. In August, he was accused of punching a woman, according to a Cleveland.com report, and in November, he was arrested on suspicion of possession of a gun and marijuana. Porter was said to have had an explosion after his closet was moved to a different section of the locker room earlier this week, prompting Cleveland to decide to change or release it.
Porter had a very promising debut season. He averaged 10 points from 44 percent of shots, but pushed that score to more than 14 points per game in a period from late January to early March, when he received more playing time. He did enough for some to wonder if he, and not the fifth overall choice, Darius Garland, was the right long-term defense partner for Collin Sexton in Cleveland.
Now, he will suddenly enter a Rockets defense court. The starting points are currently occupied by John Wall and Victor Oladipo, and veteran Eric Gordon is also consolidated. That lets Porter compete with players like Mason Jones, Ben McLemore and Danuel House for the reserve minutes.
But Houston is unlikely to fight James Harden anytime soon, now playing for the Brooklyn Nets. Taking on high-risk, high-reward swings with young people is often prudent in these circumstances. On paper, this is the kind of move that the Rockets should do. We saw flashes of their potential in Cleveland. Now, the Rockets hope to find production more consistent with the previous choice of the first round. See how the two teams qualified in the business.
Cleveland Cavaliers: C-
Ignoring the circumstances, this result is a total disaster for Cleveland. The Cavs got 50 games from Porter. They negotiated four second-round choices and $ 5 million in cash to get choice # 30 and win it. Now, they have only one choice back. Cleveland is not Oklahoma City or New Orleans. Koby Altman is not sitting on top of a bunch of assets that he can burn whenever he wants. Losing all of those choices to someone who ultimately needed to be discarded is a significant loss.
But considering where Cleveland is after a surprising 7-7 start in 14 games, it’s a justifiable loss. It was supposed to be a reconstruction season, and the reconstruction seasons offer a degree of patience. Cavs from last season may have been able to work with Porter on his problems. But with Garland and Sexton emerging and a suddenly stellar defense, Cleveland seems to have prioritized culture over talent. It is a sensible choice. Garland, based on his game so far this season, has proven his place as a longtime starter in Cleveland. This made throwing Porter, regardless of his raw ability, easier to swallow. The Cavs won’t want any help from the guard anytime soon.
But the responsibility is universal, and now a young team has seen firsthand what happens when someone doesn’t accept the program. This is still a bad result for a young team, still years away from a real dispute, but the Cavs managed to make lemonade out of these lemons.
Houston Rockets: B +
We have to start with the obvious caveat here. Porter’s situation is complicated. The lack of demand for his services made sense given the charges against him. That would have been enough to keep him out of several teams, and what happened in the locker room earlier this week didn’t exactly help. This note is based purely on movement as a basketball transaction and, in this arena, is a prudent addition.
Houston now has a full defense court. This can change quickly. The widespread belief around the league is that Victor Oladipo will leave the Rockets free. If the Rockets continue to sink, they can easily take you down on time in a deal that brings in more initial capital and opens minutes. If this is really the path the Rockets take, it would indicate a large-scale reconstruction in the coming seasons. This is a wise course of action. Houston controls their choice of first round in 2022 and 2023, but not in 2024, 2025 or 2026. Rockets are encouraged to be the worst possible in that two-year window so that the moment they start sending choices to Thunder, they they have their long-term core in place.
A good way to be mean is to spend minutes developing young players. Players with the Porter advantage are rarely available for the price Houston paid. In an ideal world, he would fight for his growing pains for the next few seasons and become someone capable of helping the Rockets win when Thunder starts collecting its debts. There is no guarantee that he will overcome the problems that Cleveland negotiated for him, but for a protected choice in the second round, Houston does not need him. They can cut it by having invested very little, if necessary.
The Rockets are not exactly the image of stability now, but James Harden is gone. They can theoretically make the transition to a period of relative normality now that he’s gone, and attacking talented young people is something that normal reconstruction teams do. Porter may have benefited from a stronger culture, but if the teams that could offer such an environment were interested, he would probably be playing for one now. Houston was the team that wanted him. This indicates a willingness to make the necessary commitment for its growth and, given the game time that is likely to be available soon, it is a chance for a clean start in a team with little expectations. That’s all Porter can ask for now.