Cleveland Cavaliers: Complete grades for the 2019 NBA offseason

Acquiring Kevin Porter Jr.

The Cleveland Cavaliers added a third first-round pick to their roster a week after the draft, sending four previously acquired second-round picks and cash to the Detroit Pistons to get the rights to 30th overall pick Kevin Porter Jr. from USC.

Porter was one of the most polarizing players entering the NBA Draft, with projections having him as high as the middle of the first round and as low as late in the second.

Porter’s physical tools are undeniable. His on-court demeanor is what is in question. He played in just 21 games as a freshman at USC last season, suspended after a confrontation with coach Andy Enfield after missing six weeks with a thigh bruise.

His Cavalier career didn’t get off to an auspicious start for a player who missed six weeks with a seemingly minor injury, as he sat out the Summer League sessions in Salt Lake City and Las Vegas due to a hip flexor injury, according to Cleveland.com.

Porter is a high-risk, high-reward acquisition. On one hand, all Cleveland gave up were second-round picks. On the other hand, the Cavaliers gave up three, and potentially four, second-round picks to get a guy who hasn’t been able to escape his teenage years without a scarred reputation.

It was a high price to pay for a guy taken with the last pick in the first round, but the Cavaliers are starved for young talent that can play now, as opposed to say, a future second-round pick in 2023.

Grade: B-