Cavs: Team moving on from Kevin Porter Jr. after another outburst

The Cleveland Cavaliers have decided to try and trade Kevin Porter Jr. and if not, release him, following his recent”outburst”.

Kevin Porter Jr. only has himself to blame. He wrecked a car because he was driving recklessly, he had a handgun on him that his mother took the wrap for, he threatened to kill a man on camera, and he’s accused of assaulting a woman. All that in a span of a few months. That wouldn’t be the end of his issues, however. Apparently, Porter had a blow-up with Cavalier officials after the most recent win over the Knicks. The Cavs are no longer having any of this and according to The Athletic, have decided to move on from Porter.

Brian Windhurst is also reporting the same thing.

The move is obviously the right one. Porter has been a “troubled” player since high school and even got himself in trouble once before in college. He was a top-10 talent that fell to the 30th spot in the NBA Draft for a reason and none of it had to do with his skills.

The Cavs, who are in the midst of a surprising 6-7 start, have apparently elected to preach culture over talent and will move on from the troubled guard/forward after yet another incident. Apparently, Porter started “screaming” at team officials after his locker had been moved to accommodate Taurean Prince’s arrival with the team. Considering Porter is inactive and Prince is set to make his debut in the next Cavs game against Brooklyn, this makes sense to everyone but Porter.

* Porter was also seen throwing food, and screaming at Cavs GM Koby Altman about “modern-day slavery”, apparently alluding to why the Cavs were keeping him off the court.

The Cavs told him to clean out his locker after the outburst and, who then told the rest of the team that Porter would not be returning. This isn’t surprising, these stories never change.

"The team needs to move on from Porter because it’s only a matter of time before he’s in trouble again…I’ve just seen this story play out too often to think that this one will go differently."

Personal opinion aside, it’s also the right move by the Cavs. Even if the team hadn’t played as well as it had, they should move on from him from a moral standpoint, but since the Cavs have played well in J.B. Bickerstaff’s system, he needs to now go to protect the “Heart and Hustle” culture that is being created.

This is a team that sells out for one another, and bringing in someone like Porter who clearly only thinks of what’s best for himself would kill that culture.

It’s way too early to start thinking playoffs but with the frontcourt Bickerstaff has, and the developing young guards, it’s not just possible, but likely he leads this team to the playoffs. Assuming the injury bug gets put to sleep, that is. The early success made the decision to move on from Porter easier, but it’s still the right call.

For Porter’s sake, I hope he gets whatever issues he has worked out. It’s clear he’s in some sort of turmoil emotionally, and being away from a team for a while may allow him the time to go and seek the help he needs. No one wants this young man’s career to end, but it does need to go on a pause. He’s clearly going down the wrong road.

Author Edit: * There were new details revealed that were added to the story at 2:30 PM ET.