Free agent guard and former first-round draft pick Kevin Porter Jr. said he would prefer to return to the NBA, but will stay put with PAOK in Greece if no such deal comes through.
“If it is up to me, I don’t see myself, when it comes from the overseas standpoint if I am staying out here another year — if I have the opportunity to go back to the NBA, then I will probably go back to the NBA — but if it is not the NBA, I don’t want to play for another club than PAOK,” Porter said, via Johnny Askonis of Eurohoops. “I feel like they have welcomed me and they gave me the chance that a lot of people looked over.”
Porter, 23, has been out of the league since his arrest in September following an altercation with his ex-girlfriend, NBA player Kysre Gondrezick. He was originally charged with felony counts of strangulation and assault, though he reached a plea deal in January.
Porter ended up pleading guilty to reckless assault in the third degree, a misdemeanor, as well as harassment in the second degree.
In the wake of all this, the Rockets traded Porter to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who immediately waived him. He has been out of the NBA since and odds are, his status as a free agent will remain that way for some time.
Nor was that Porter’s first run-in with the law since entering the NBA.
Originally drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks with the No. 30 overall pick in 2019, he was immediately traded to the Detroit Pistons, who traded him to the Cavs. His troubles in Cleveland started soon thereafter.
Porter was also arrested following a traffic incident while a member of the Cavs back in 2020. The Cavs traded him to the Rockets after he allegedly yelled at GM/president of basketball operations Koby Altman during a locker room incident. Porter was said to have thrown food at Altman during the ordeal.
Porter is 6-foot-4 and appeared in 59 games last season with Houston, averaging 19.2 points, 5.7 assists and 5.3 rebounds.
He signed a contract extension with the Rockets in October 2022, leaving the Thunder on the hook for $16.9 million of that deal.
PAOK signed Porter in April. He averaged 20.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 3.0 steals and 1.8 blocks in four appearances with the club.
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