Former Rocket reportedly taking low salary to play overseas

Kevin Porter Jr. is starting small as he tries to work his way back into basketball.

Shams Charania of The Athletic reported this week that the controversial ex-Houston Rockets guard is signing a contract for the rest of the season with Greek club PAOK, who play in the country’s top pro basketball league.

European basketball reporter Harris Stavrou added Monday that Porter will be paid less than $10K by PAOK (on a contract for about one month).

That is a obviously a drastic cut in pay for Porter, who had already cost himself a lot of money over the last several months. Porter, a problematic player prone to outbursts, got a four-year, $82.5M extension from the Rockets in October 2022. But the extension came with a unique salary structure featuring only a very small amount of guaranteed money, seemingly in case Porter got into any more trouble.

Ultimately, Porter did in fact get into big trouble roughly a year after he received the extension. He was arrested in September 2023 for the alleged strangulation of his WNBA player girlfriend. Weeks later, the Rockets traded Porter to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who promptly waived him, leaving Porter with just around that tiny fraction of guaranteed money.

The 23-year-old Porter reached a plea deal in January, avoiding prison time in exchange for pleading guilty to a misdemeanor assault and harassment violation. Porter was also ordered to enter an Abusive Partner Intervention Program and complete several other court-mandated requirements.

Still, no NBA team has signed Porter since, leaving him to accept the very small cameo deal with PAOK. 

Porter, who had averaged 19.2 points, 5.3 rebounds and 5.7 assists per game for the Rockets last year, is obviously hoping that this can somehow be his springboard back into the NBA.