Kevin Porter Jr. may be on the market, but the next stop for the former Bucks guard doesn’t sound imminent.
Waived by Milwaukee before the regular season, Porter is not expected to land quickly, a source told Marc Stein and Jake Fischer of The Stein Line. Even so, the guard is said to be keeping his sights on the NBA rather than heading overseas, and he remains optimistic he can stick in the league. Teams abroad have shown interest, but Porter’s preference is to stay stateside.
There are still possible NBA openings out there. According to Stein and Fischer, several clubs are taking a hard look at their backcourts this early in the year, and if any of them decide they’re not comfortable with what they have, Porter could become an option.
Denver and Sacramento are among the teams mentioned. Both had previously been linked to talks with Milwaukee about a possible Porter trade, and both could still fit as landing spots for the veteran guard.
The cap picture, though, makes the fit trickier than it once looked. Denver is well above the luxury tax line, while Sacramento is not carrying much room below it. That means Porter may have made more sense when he was attached to a trade that sent salary back the other way than he does as a possible 15th man signing.
Stein and Fischer also reported that, just four months before they were ultimately forced to waive him, the Grizzlies were telling teams at June’s draft that moving second-year guard Walter Clayton would cost a first-round pick.
Pete Nance, meanwhile, drew attention on the two-way market before rejoining the Bucks. After clearing waivers last week, he ultimately re-signed with Milwaukee on a two-way deal, but the Sixers and Lakers were also in the mix.
In Washington, Bilal Coulibaly’s situation came down to the wire. The Wizards and Coulibaly held “11th-hour” talks on a rookie scale extension before last Monday’s deadline, according to Stein and Fischer, but no agreement was reached. Even so, the fact that the sides kept talking that late is being read as a sign the Wizards still see him as part of their future.
And with Aday Mara, the paperwork side of the story is still anything but simple. Basket Zaragoza, his former team in Spain, did not stop him from making his NBA debut for the Thunder, but the club continues to say it holds his rights through 2027.
FIBA told The Stein Line it is aware of the situation and described it as a long-running legal matter in Spain, adding: “FIBA is aware of the matter, which has been the subject of ongoing legal proceedings for several years in Spain. This case has certain particularities and a rare level of complexity which require in-depth legal analysis.
FIBA’s focus remains the protection of the integrity of the international transfer system in basketball.”