CLEVELAND — According to NBA Insider Shams Charania, Cleveland Cavaliers rookie Craig Porter Jr. has been signed to a four-year contract.
The cards were stacked against Porter Jr. when the 2023 NBA Draft came and went without his name being read.
It's hard enough for many lottery players to make an impact in their rookie year, let alone an undrafted, 6'1" point guard on a team with two All-Star caliber players from the same position.
Looking at a summer league opportunity with no guarantee past that, Craig Porter Jr. turned into one of the many bright spots coming out of the Cavs summer league with his unselfish playmaking ability and uncompromising hustle. He turned that opportunity into a two-way contract going into the regular season.
Porter Jr. immediately made his presence felt in the Cavs early season rotation scoring 10 points in 18 minutes in the second game of the season and first significant game action against the New York Knicks. A few weeks later, thrust into a more significant role due to injuries, Porter Jr. impressed with a five-game stretch where he scored in double figures in each of those five games, including a 21 point effort against the defending champion Denver Nuggets.
He also flashed impressive playmaking ability during the stretch which would continue into December.
When Darius Garland went down with a jaw injury, the Cavs' depth at guard was challenged. Porter Jr. showed the rest of the league, and most importantly the Cavalier front office, that he belonged providing an opportunity for the Cavs to take the immense load off of Donovan Mitchell's back for stretches while the Cavaliers turned their own injury misfortune into a stretch of basketball that would see them catapulted from the bottom of the play-in bracket to the top of the Eastern Conference.
December was Porter Jr.'s best month by far averaging 8 points, 4.8 assists and 3.9 rebounds in 20.9 minutes per game.
Porter Jr's spot in JB Bickerstaff's rotation has been on and off for much of the season. His playing time taking a steep decline since the return of Darius Garland to the starting five.
But the team's commitment to him even as they got healthy and decided to forgo making a move at the trade deadline says everything you need to know about how they view his importance to the team as they try to prove they are on the short list of championship contenders in the NBA.
Porter Jr. is averaging 6.5 points and 2.8 assists in this rookie season.