CLIPPERS SIGNING CONTROVERSIAL GUARD TO TWO-YEAR CONTRACT
The Clippers have reached a two-year agreement with guard Kevin Porter Jr., Shams Charania of The Athletic reports. The contract will include a player option in the second year.
Porter has had a short-but-checkered history in the league. Porter didn’t play in the NBA this past season.
Following an arrest on a domestic assault charge, Porter was traded by the Rockets to Oklahoma City in October, shortly before the start of the regular season. The Thunder waived him the day after the deal was completed.
Porter reached a plea agreement of a third-degree reckless assault misdemeanor in January. He is in the process of completing a court-ordered program, and once completed his plea will move to not guilty with no criminal record. (X links).
Porter was originally charged with felony counts of assault and strangulation after an altercation with his former girlfriend in New York.
Porter’s contract with the Clippers will be for the veteran’s minimum, The Athletic’s Law Murray notes. It will include a 15% trade kicker, Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports adds.
At the beginning of April, Porter signed with PAOK in Greece. He had a triple double with that club. In six domestic league matches, he averaged 22 points, 9.8 rebounds, 6.8 assists and 2.8 steals in 39 minutes per contest.
Porter drew multiple suitors, according to Charania, before choosing the Clippers. With the team seeking to trade Russell Westbrook, Porter should jump right into the rotation.
In his last season with the Rockets, he averaged 19.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists in 59 starts. For his career, Porter has averaged 15.3 points, 4.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists.
He started his career with Cleveland. He was inactive at the beginning of the 2020-21 season inactive due to an offseason weapons charge, which was later dropped. The Cavs chose to trade him in January 2021 after a locker room outburst.
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