Cavs: 3 potential career outcomes for Kevin Porter Jr.
By Mason Cole
Of all the Cleveland Cavaliers young prospects, Kevin Porter Jr. might be the most exciting of the bunch.
The Cleveland Cavaliers drafted Collin Sexton with the eighth pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, and Darius Garland with the fifth pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. Both players were selected with future All-Star aspirations from team general manager Koby Altman, and while both players have shown flashes of solid production, neither has garnered as much organizational hype as Kevin Porter Jr.
Porter Jr. was drafted with the 30th pick in the 2019 NBA Draft by the Milwaukee Bucks. Shortly after, he landed with the Cavaliers via trade after a pick acquired from the Detroit Pistons, who had the pick per a prior trade before the draft with Milwaukee. Porter Jr. spent the bulk of his rookie season coming off of the bench and playing an average of 23.2 minutes per game for the Cavaliers.
The rookie only averaged 10.0 points per outing during his first season, but unlike Sexton or Garland, Porter Jr. showed a unique isolation ability combining quickness and athleticism to create his own scoring opportunities, while also shooting a strong 42.9 percent on spot-up attempts, per Synergy Sports. These abilities made the Cavs rookie a scoring threat whenever he was on the floor.
In a piece in late February after a comeback win over the Miami Heat spearheaded by a career-best 30-point effort from Porter, Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor wrote that some within the organization believe Porter Jr. could eventually become the “team’s best player” and change the trajectory of the Cavs rebuild.
That is extremely high praise for the 20-year-old. It’s also high standards and high pressure placed on his shoulders by the organization.
But from my perspective, I don’t think its wholly impossible. I think there is a scenario where Kevin Porter Jr. makes massive improvements to his game and becomes an All-Star level player who, if coached right, and surrounded by enough talent, could lead the Cavaliers back to the NBA playoffs.
But it isn’t necessarily a likely reality.
I think there are plenty of possible career outcomes for Porter Jr. with the Cleveland Cavaliers, and I want to delve into three of those possibilities here.
We’ll get started with the first potential outcome.