NBA Rumors: 5 potential buyout candidates after the trade deadline
Potential buyout candidate No. 4: Otto Porter Jr.
Otto Porter Jr. was drafted with the third overall pick in the 2013 draft by the Washington Wizards, with expectations of forming a “Big 3” in the nation’s capital alongside John Wall and Bradley Beal. Once a budding star, Porter Jr developed into one of the best two-way players in the league before injuries derailed his career.
His coming-out party came during the 2016-17 campaign when he averaged then career-highs of 13.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, 1.5 assists, and 1.5 steals in 32.6 minutes per game while posting impressive .516/.434/.832 shooting splits.
After proving to pretty durable over the first five seasons of his career, these last three years haven’t been kind to him. Since the start of the 2018-19 season, various injuries and ailments (the lastest being debilitating back spasms) have limited Porter to just 86 out of 174 possible regular-season games.
Injuries have limited his production, but when healthy, he’s an efficient and versatile scorer who can attack the basket and knock down 3-pointers with pinpoint accuracy. Porter is a 40.4 percent 3-point shooter for his career and has converted over 50 percent of his two-pointers. More impressively, he has a career 57.9 true shooting percentage and 55.6 effective field goal percentage for his career, per basketball reference.
Listed at 6’8” and 198 pounds, he’s a natural small forward who can play power forward in small-ball lineups and shooting guard when the coach wants to feature a bigger lineup. He can play solid defense against every position except center.
In the final year of a four-year $106.5 million contract he signed back in the summer of 2017, Porter’s health issues make him unlikely to be moved via trade before the deadline. Not many teams, if any, will be willing to give up anything of true value for an injury-prone player making nearly $30 million this year and set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season.
Drafting Patrick Williams fourth overall in the 2020 NBA Draft was the first indication the Bulls may be looking to move on from Porter. Combine that with the fact that once again, injuries have limited his court action and production this season, which has been a common theme since he joined the franchise during the 2018-19 season, and all signs point towards Porter and the Bulls agreeing to a contract buyout after the trade deadline.
Even if the Bulls find a way to give a team enough incentive to eat the remainder of Porter’s salary, it won’t be a contender that pulls the trigger, so it’s likely even if he gets traded, he’ll either be waived or bought out by his new team. Suppose he can get healthy again; Porter can still be an impactful wing while adding frontcourt depth to a title contender. Expect his name to be at the center of a lot of trade and buyout rumors as the next month’s deadline nears.
NBA teams that Otto Porter Jr. can help
Denver Nuggets, Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat, Brooklyn Nets, Milwaukee Bucks, LA Clippers