Terry Porter traveled a different route to the NBA, gaining an invitation to the 1984 U.S. Olympic trials while playing at NAIA Wisconsin-Stevens Point before landing with the Portland Trail Blazers with the last pick in the first round of the 1985 draft.
It was a good call by Portland.
Porter emerged as their starting point guard in his second NBA season and helped lead the team to two NBA Finals appearances in the early 1990s, though he was overshadowed in an era of point guards that included Magic Johnson and John Stockton.
Porter played 10 seasons with the Trail Blazers before playing another seven seasons as a backup point guard/veteran mentor for young teams such as the Minnesota Timberwolves and Miami Heat and finishing up his career with a three-year stint for the San Antonio Spurs.
His long tenure as a backup diluted his career numbers a bit, as he put up 12.2 points, 5.6 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 steals in 27.8 minutes per game, shooting 46.3 percent overall and 38.6 percent on 2.6 3-point attempts per game in his career.
With Portland, he averaged 14.9 points, 7.0 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 31.6 minutes per game and in the playoffs, averaged 18.2 points and 6.3 dimes in 84 career postseason games with the Trail Blazers.
Porter is 15th on the NBA’s all-time assists list with 7,160, is 34th in steals with 1,583 and 29th in games played at 1,274. Porter, despite not playing in a big era for the 3, is still 48th with 1,297 career makes from downtown.