Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
On Tuesday, the Houston Rockets traded guard Kevin Porter Jr. and a pair of second-round picks to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for guard Victor Oladipo and forward Jeremiah Robinson-Earl. The Thunder will reportedly waive Porter.
Porter was arrested back in September for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend, former WNBA player Kysre Gondrezick, and was charged with assault and strangulation. In light of that incident, the Rockets had reportedly been trying to trade Porter for the last month and have finally found a trade partner in the Thunder.
The Milwaukee Bucks chose the 6-foot-4 guard with the No. 30 overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. He spent his rookie season, the 2019-20 season, as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers franchise and averaged 10.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists and 0.9 steals per game in 50 games.
Following a solid rookie season, the Cavaliers traded Porter to the Rockets in January of 2021 and received a second-round pick in return.
With the Rockets, the 23-year-old emerged as a starting-caliber point guard. He averaged 15-plus points, five-plus assists and three-plus rebounds per game in each of his three seasons with Houston.
Porter’s best season with the Rockets came during the 2022-23 season. He cemented himself as one of the best players on the team a season ago, seeing as how he averaged 19.2 points, 5.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.4 steals per game. He also shot 44.2 percent from the field and 36.6 percent from behind the 3-point arc across 59 appearances with Houston.
The Rockets were one of the worst teams in the NBA a season ago, however. The team finished the regular season with a 22-60 record, tied with the San Antonio Spurs for the worst record in the entire Western Conference.
A few months ago, Porter was projected to be the team’s starting point guard for the foreseeable future and a major part of Houston’s rebuild moving forward. Now, his future in the NBA is uncertain, and it’s very possible that Porter will not play on an NBA team during the 2023-24 regular season.
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