Look Inside One G League MVP Candidate's Journey Back To NBA
Following an MVP caliber campaign with the Vipers, Kevin Porter Jr. turned in a double-double in his debut with the Rockets.
The RGV Vipers may not have brought home a championship this season, but they delivered on sending back a glowing prospect who’s ready to shine in Houston.
After spending the entire 15-game season in the bubble, assignee Kevin Porter Jr. returned to turn in a stellar Rockets debut, tallying 13 points, a career-high 10 assists, 5 rebounds, and 3 steals on Thursday night.
Such a performance came rather naturally for the 20 year old, who averaged 24.1 points, 7.2 assists, and 6.5 rebounds for the Vipers.
“He was great. Kevin was super positive and understood the reasoning behind it. We laid out the plan for him beforehand and he embraced it,” Vipers GM Travis Stockbridge said of Porter Jr.’s assignment. “You could see it in the way he interacted with his teammates and the rest of the staff.”
“Biggest thing was, he just hadn’t played in 11 or 12 months. We wanted him to use this as a springboard to get comfortable in our system and everything we want to do. It helped him get used to the roles and expectations he’ll have,” Stockbridge continued. “It was also just a way for him to get his legs back under him, playing 5-on-5 basketball again. It’s a lot different from just working out in the gym, so this was an opportunity for us to use RGV to ease him in slowly instead of just throwing him into the fire in Houston.”
If there was rust to shake off, no one could see it while watching Porter Jr. dominate during his time in the bubble. He helped propel the Vipers into the postseason, riding the wave of a six-game regular season winning streak right into the playoffs. The 20 year old led the league in both points and assists per game and seemed to flirt with triple-doubles on a nightly basis, garnering MVP consideration (read more here).
A number of twists and turns and off the court events led to the conclusion of Porter Jr.’s time with the Cavaliers. But a fresh start awaited him in Houston, and part of reaching that plateau was putting in the necessary time with RGV first.
“If he was going to be involved in Houston, he needed to take advantage of this opportunity and he did that,” head coach Mahmoud Abdelfattah said. “He worked just like every other player and did a great job of accepting the situation and his role.”
Before becoming head coach, Abdelfattah was part of the Vipers staff that ultimately guided the team toward a title in 2019. That season, the likes of Isaiah Hartenstein and Gary Clark (and eventual NBA Call-Up turned assignee Michael Frazier) all helped pace RGV in winning the championship while getting the necessary reps in to ready them for the next level. Such a practice of preparation has been a long standing tradition with the Rockets organization. Even Robert Covington won NBA G League Rookie of the Year as an assignee with the Vipers back in 2014.
The list goes on, and Porter Jr. is just another example with potential NBA success at his fingertips.
“That’s something we pride ourselves in between Houston and RGV. Everything is an extension of what’s going on in Houston,” Stockbridge added. “It’s not two different organizations. It’s an extension of culture. We try to have as much togetherness as we can between the two staffs.”
“We put that plan in place very early on,” Stockbridge said of Porter Jr.’s time with RGV. “We were proactive, and Kevin deserves credit for being so open.”
Porter Jr. hadn’t played a minute in Houston before being acquired and subsequently assigned to the Vipers. Being in the bubble for a month meant a detour from the NBA lifestyle and time away from friends and family. But the young gun took it in stride, showing flashes of what could be at the next level. He’s explosive around the rim, a very difficult player to defend when he gets inside. While opposing defenses catch on to this rather quickly, Porter Jr. is developing those necessary unselfish instincts to understand his talent and the attention he warrants. He’s using that to see the floor and gets others involved. This makes him a constant threat and that was obvious in the G League.
It didn’t take long for such skills to translate with Houston.
“He can do so many things. He has the ability to play with or without the ball and that means creating for his teammates or getting shots for himself,” Stockbridge pointed out. “Throughout the season, we talked about needing more rebounding from him. You could see him making the extra effort. It all comes down to his versatile skills.”
Just like with any young player, there’s room to grow and progress to be made. That said, Porter Jr. used his time in the minor league wisely and it should only continue to pay off.
His season debut was quite a nice start.