Kevin Porter Jr. was named in trade rumors before being waived by the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday as they finally crunched the roster down to 15 standard contracts. This move follows that of former Bucks guard Cam Thomas, who was in a similar position with solid stats but learned that the NBA is moving away from the heliocentric style of offensive players who aren't elite.
KPJ falls to the same fate as Cam Thomas
Porter averaged 17.4 points, 7.4 assists, and 5.2 rebounds in 38 games last season. Thomas played 18 games for the Bucks last season and averaged 10.7 points. On the surface, both would look like good, impactful players. The issue is that the metrics are not there on the other side of the ball, so overall, it can be a net negative.
There is no doubt Porter can be a bucket, but the heliocentric players who still work are on the level of Luka Doncic. Porter is not on that level, so the Bucks turning to their younger players they are more invested in makes perfect sense. Those young guards will now be able to get their fair share of shots in a game without further competition from a ball-dominant guard.
Thomas was in a similar position to Milwaukee. He was brought in after being waived by the Brooklyn Nets to provide a scoring punch off the bench. In the second game of his tenure, he dropped 34, and in his first few games, he showed positive signs. Again, when that dropped off, his overall impact completely disappeared, and he had no impact on the game. Since being waived in March, Thomas still remains a free agent.
Milwaukee was looking to move Porter, but there was clearly no market for him, and that may be the reality now regardless of his stats.
Bucks backcourt finally taking shape
All preseason, the big question was the impending roster crunch, in particular, what happens in the backcourt. It is clear that Ryan Rollins and Tyler Herro will be the starting pair. As Taylor Jenkins continued to experiment with rotations, it became obvious that rookie Brayden Burries may already have won the lead guard spot off the bench, with Kasparas Jakuconis coming in as the backup point guard.
Gary Trent Jr.'s contract is extremely difficult to move, and Porter likely fell as the first casualty of that deal. AJ Green and Caris LeVert are still part of the roster, with the latter featuring very little in preseason. LeVert was brought in as part of a deal with the Detroit Pistons that helped them shed salary, and the Bucks took on draft capital, so it feels extremely unlikely he will be on the roster at the end of the season.
Herro is perhaps the nearest to Porter or Thomas in terms of style of guard, but he is All-Star caliber and brings far more to the game while being more efficient. The rest of the backcourt is nicely set up with guys who can do a bit of everything, but also bring a certain specialty.
As the NBA continues to change and depth becomes even more important to success, Porter fell to the same fate as Thomas, with their style of offense no longer being valued by teams without the impact on the other side of the ball. Milwaukee is really leaning into the youth movement, and there is plenty of potential in the backcourt.
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