Kevin Porter Jr., who was traded by the Rockets last season as a "robbery", also successfully ushered in self-redemption in Houston, when in the second half of the season against the Bucks, Porter Jr. exploded a career-high 50 points and 11 assists, becoming the youngest Mr. 50+10 in NBA history. The offseason team does not hesitate to implement his team option of only 2.13 million this year, and is ready to let him and the new star Jaylen Green share the responsibility of the team's backcourt core. It is true that at the beginning of the season, Porter Jr.'s state was not ideal, but as the season progressed, Porter Jr. also successfully found himself after a period of adjustment.
As of now, Porter Jr. can average 13.8 points, 3.9 rebounds and 6.1 assists for the Rockets per game, hitting 2.3 three-pointers per game, and the shooting rate has reached 38%, which is even the same as the Warriors core Curry, which is indeed a bit unexpected. To know that Porter Jr.'s three-point shooting rate throughout his career is only 34.7%, and the shooting rate in the 26 games that joined the Rockets last season was as low as 31.1% below the level, but in just one season, there has been such significant progress outside the three-point line, it has to be said that Porter Jr. really has extraordinary basketball talent.
Porter Jr., who studied at the University of Southern California in college, once had a five-star high school student rating and was the top ten player in the 19th class, but because of injuries and his own lonely personality problems, he eventually made his draft market decline all the way, and finally was selected by the Cavaliers with the 30th pick in the first round. In the first season of joining the Cavaliers, he could average 10 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.2 assists per game, originally the Cavaliers wanted to see him as the cornerstone of the team, but the turmoil continued, and even directly in the locker room to throw food at the assistant coach, Porter Jr. was eventually abandoned by the Cavaliers last season, and the Rockets only used a second-round pick to bring him to Houston.
Just when the Rockets traded Harden out, it was necessary to develop young players, Porter Jr. also justifiably sat in the team's starting position, and with Wall's partnership, Porter Jr. finally cashed in his extraordinary talent, averaging a career-best 16.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 6.3 assists per game. Porter Jr., who has shown great achievements in assists, has also officially taken on the burden of organizing point guards this season. Similar to Harden, Porter Jr. is also an excellent two-legged defender, with good organizational skills and excellent in the outside attack.
It is true that Porter Jr. struggled very much outside the three-point line two months ago, but since December, his three-point shooting rate has reached more than 40% in those three months (40% in December, 41.2% in January, and 51.4% in February), and after entering February, his average per game has reached 17.2 points, 2.8 rebounds, 5.8 assists, shooting percentage and three-point shooting rate of 53.4% and 51.4%, respectively, in the most recent game against the Raptors. Porter Jr. exploded next season's high of 30 points, with eight assists and a sizable number of turnovers.
In the case that Wall is likely to say goodbye to the team, Porter Jr. has completely taken over the banner from the big brother and become the true backcourt commander of the current Rockets. As a 21-year-old youngster, if the Rockets really want to train him to become the "second Harden", they really need to give him enough patience.