Rockets, Kevin Porter Jr. comply with 4-yr, $82.5M extension

Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter Jr. has agreed to a four-year, $82.5 million contract extension, his agent Sam Permut of RocNation Sports activities informed ESPN on Monday.

The extension has a novel construction that enables for vital upside for Porter Jr. and protections for the Rockets. The deal’s first season is assured, and future seasons have a number of mechanisms to completely assure, sources mentioned.

Porter Jr., 26, landed the extension forward of Monday’s 6 PM ET deadline for gamers out of the NBA draft class of 2019.

Houston GM Rafael Stone and coach Stephen Silas has invested vital time and power into Porter Jr., on and off the court docket, and his progress has given them purpose to maintain creating him as one of many franchise’s younger cornerstones.

Whereas there have been unquestioned challenges in Porter Jr.’s improvement – together with the Cleveland Cavaliers buying and selling him to Rockets in 2021 for a late second-round decide unlikely to ever convey – his extension affords him an opportunity to earn-out financially if he continues his progress into a totally dependable participant.

One factor that is by no means been in query with Porter Jr. is his expertise. He completed the 2021-2022 robust for Houston, averaging 28.7 factors, 7.3 rebounds and seven.4 assists within the ultimate seven video games, in accordance with ESPN Stats and Data. In that stretch, he had consecutive 35-point video games, the youngest participant in Rockets historical past to take action.

Porter Jr., confirmed vital enchancment in his three-point capturing a season in the past, enhancing 6.5 p.c to 37.5 p.c – the fifth-largest improve amongst 163 gamers to aim 150 threes in every of the final two seasons, in accordance with ESPN Stats and Information. His 48 p.c on catch-and-shoot three-pointers ranked him within the High 5 amongst gamers with a minimum of 100 makes an attempt, per Second Spectrum monitoring.