4 Summer League standouts for the Cavaliers so far

2 of 4

WICHITA, KS – FEBRUARY 23: Craig Porter Jr. #3 of the Wichita State Shockers shoots the ball against Elijah McCadden #0 of the Memphis Tigers during a game in the first half at Charles Koch Arena on February 23, 2023 in Wichita, Kansas. (Photo by Peter G. Aiken/Getty Images) /

Summer League Standout No. 2: Craig Porter Jr.

My personal favorite standout of this summer league so far has been Craig Porter Jr. as he is coming from Wichita State, which I’m familiar with because I used to live there. Besides that Porter is an excellent player who’s been underappreciated his entire basketball career from the time he was in high school. Part of that began because he initially struggled academically, but since those early days, he’s turned that part of his game around and has been an outstanding student-athlete.

He’s a hard worker and he’s a very determined individual. He plays excellent defense and has good ball-handling skills for a guard. Could he be an eventual backup player to Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell?

In this tournament, he has performed well coming off the bench earning around 15 to 20 minutes a game. He went 19 minutes in the game against the Brooklyn Nets. He scored eight points, had seven boards and three assists.

Porter started seeing the basket even better in the second game against the Toronto Raptors as he went 5-of-7 from the floor, finishing with 10 points, added six boards, and had two assists.

In this last game against Memphis Grizzlies, Porter was launching shots and finished with 12 points, seven boards, and six assists in a little over 21 minutes of playing time.

He’s already agreed to a two-way contract with the team to help split his time between the Cavs and the Charge in the G-League, but I would not be surprised in the next year or so if he has a more substantial role with the big league squad in Cleveland.