Otto Porter Jr. exercises player option with Toronto Raptors 1x6e6q

Otto Porter Jr. (2018) – CC BY-SA 431v39

Toronto Raptors forward Otto Porter Jr. has decided to pick up his player option for the 2023-2024 season, The Athletic’s Shams Charania first broke the news. The option is worth around $6.3 million.

Many have expected Porter will exercise his player option since he only played eight games in the 2022-2023 season since he had to undergo season-ending foot surgery. Toronto later filed for a $3 million disabled player exception following the operation.

Raptors president Masai Ujiri saw Porter’s injury as “unfortunate” and wanted the 29-year-old to return to the team.

“That was the beginning of another unfortunate situation,” Ujiri told the media following Porter’s season-ending injury, as per Sports Illustrated. “…We’ll see how his surgery heals, and he’s in that process now. But the plan is for him to heal and be part of the roster next season.”

Previously, Porter penned a two-year, $12.3 million deal with the Raptor after his critical role coming from the bench for the title-winning 2021/2022 Golden State Warriors as he recorded 8.2 PPG, 5.7 RPG and 1.5 APG in 63 games.

Porter in Raptors squad 3h4zt

When Porter returns to the team, many pundits believe that the former Georgetown Hoyas forward is the perfect backup for the squad and his $6.3 million is still reasonable for the veteran wing.

Porter could be a suitable role player after Precious Achiuwa or Gary Trent Jr. when the starters Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, Scottie Barnes and O.G. Anunoby need some rotations in the squad.

According to both basketball-reference.com’s defensive box plus-minus (a 2.1 DBPM; Porter’s previous career high was 1.0, in the 2017-2018 season) and fivethirtyeight’s defensive RAPTOR (1.7), Porter was the best defender last year, SB Nation reported. Porter could help boost the overall defensive stats when he’s fully recovered.

However, if Toronto decides to have Plan B for Porter, his one-year $6.3 million contract is still very valuable for the team who needs experienced player like Porter. Sportsnet.ca’s Blake Murphy in a tweet said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the Raptors choose instead to trade Porter at the end to offload his salary cap this summer.