CLEVELAND — The Kevin Porter Jr. era in Cleveland has apparently come to a quick and unceremonious end.
Multiple outlets are reporting the Cavaliers have traded the 20-year-old forward to the Houston Rockets, with ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski being the first. In exchange, the club will receive a protected second-round pick, quite a small return for the man selected 30th in the draft only a year ago.
Porter was seen as a future franchise cornerstone in his rookie year, averaging 10.0 points per game while shooting 44.2% from the field. But off-the-court issues have persisted, and The Athletic reported earlier this week the Cavs were ready to move on from the former first-round selection following an alleged blowup in the locker room.
Porter has not played this season following a car crash in Mahoning County that saw him facing firearm, marijuana, and traffic charges. Those charges were later dropped and he returned to the team last Friday to sit on the bench, but sources told The Athletic he became irate when he realized his old locker had been given to Taurean Prince, recently acquired from the Brooklyn Nets.
The incident involved Porter apparently getting verbally "combative" with general manager Koby Altman, and left such a bad mark on the rest of the team that the front office spent the ensuing weekend attempting to ship him to another team. Had those attempts failed, they were expected to release him outright after just 50 career games.
A five-star recruit coming out of Rainier Beach High School in Seattle, Porter spent a single season at USC and displayed the talent of a potential lottery pick. However, he was hampered by injuries and eventually suspended for "personal conduct issues," the latter of which likely led to his falling to the bottom of the first round in the 2019 draft.
Though the Cavs won only 19 games last season, Porter's flashes of brilliance were one of the bright spots on the young team, and left many fans optimistic headed into 2020-21. Yet with Porter out of the lineup for the first 14 games, other young stars (such as Collin Sexton and newcomers Prince and Jarrett Allen) have shined, giving Cleveland early playoff dreams while making Porter more expendable.
Neither team has confirmed the deal at this time. The move appears to be a low-risk, high-reward one for the Rockets, who are in rebuilding mode after shipping disgruntled former MVP James Harden to the Nets in a four-team deal that netted the Cavs Allen and Prince.
Stay with 3News for updates on this developing story.