It wasn’t a great start to the NBA season for Kevin Porter Jr., but the G League was a different matter entirely.
Porter is now playing for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, who opened the season Tuesday in the Disney bubble with a 132-105 loss to Raptors 905.
But Porter was fantastic individually, scoring a game-high 25 points, burying four 3-pointers and passing for four assists.
He is on assignment from the Houston Rockets after a January trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard averaged 10.0 points last season as a rookie.
The Rockets have high hopes for Porter — but after a rocky start to the year, they intend to let him find his way back on the floor. He did not appear in a game for the Cavs following an offseason arrest (all charges were dropped) and ensuing locker-room outburst directed at general manager Koby Altman.
“We’re just integrating him slowly,” Rockets coach Stephen Silas said recently. “We’re coming up with a plan that makes sense for him and for the team. He hasn’t played in a while. He’s kind of just learning.”
Porter was drafted with the final pick of the first round (No. 30 overall) by the Detroit Pistons in 2019. He was traded to the Cavs on draft night and showed flashes of becoming the future star of their young backcourt nucleus.
Now, he could become a real interesting and athletic piece next Rockets veterans such as John Wall, Victor Oladipo and DeMarcus Cousins.
“He’s a young kid, but he’s very talented,” Silas said. “When he first got here, we had to make sure that we’re really, really smart about the structure we have put in place for him on and off the floor.”
