Dan Hamilton-USA TODAY Sports
One NBA executive revealed that “nobody” wants Toronto Raptors forward Otto Porter Jr. in the trade market because of his injury history.
Porter opted into his player option for the 2023-24 season with Toronto after appearing in just eight games in the 2022-23 season due to injury. While the team would likely love to move off of his contract, it may not be that easy.
“It would be nice if someone would take Otto Porter Jr.’s $6.3 million off their hands, but that would require attaching draft picks for a player who has negative value (after playing just eight games last season) to convince someone to take him into their cap space,” Sportnet’s Michael Grange wrote.
Grange also spoke to a league executive that took a bit of a shot at Porter’s inability to stay healthy.
“Nobody wants Otto Porter Jr.,” said the executive. “He’s frail. He’s always a lay-up away from being out six-to-eight weeks.”
The No. 3 overall pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, Porter has played for the Washington Wizards, Chicago Bulls, Golden State Warriors, Raptors and Orlando Magic in his NBA career.
While he has shown at times that he can be a solid player, Porter has not appeared in more than 63 games in a season since the 2017-18 campaign.
During the 2021-22 season with Golden State, Porter was extremely effective, helping the team win the NBA Finals. A big reason why he was so good was because he appeared in 63 games, his highest total since the 2017-18 campaign.
The Raptors took a shot on him in free agency, hoping he could bring the same production, but a foot injury limited the 30-year-old to just eight games (two starts) in the 2022-23 season.
If the Raptors can’t find a reasonable trade for the veteran forward, they may be better off keeping him and hoping that he can be a productive role player for at least part of the 2023-24 season.
The Raptors are really looking to improve their roster after missing the playoffs in the 2022-23 campaign. The team finished with the No. 9 seed in the Eastern Conference and was knocked out of the play-in tournament by the No. 10-seeded Bulls.
It will be interesting to see what moves the Raptors make, especially since Fred VanVleet is an unrestricted free agent this offseason.
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