Thunder trade two-time All-Star, young big to Rockets for player facing serious allegations, picks

The Thunder and Rockets agreed to a trade, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, who reported (via Twitter) that Oklahoma City will receive guard Kevin Porter Jr. and a pair of future second-round picks in the deal, while Houston will get guard Victor Oladipo and forward/center Jeremiah Robinson-Earl.

The Thunder, who will immediately waive Porter, are acquiring the Timberwolves’ 2027 second-round pick and the Bucks’ 2028 second-rounder from Houston, Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter).

Porter was arrested in September on charges of assault and strangulation after allegedly assaulting his girlfriend, former WNBA player Kysre Gondrezick. The Rockets, who began trying to trade the 23-year-old shortly after his arrest, confirmed on media day that he wouldn’t be rejoining the team.

According to Jonathan Feigen of the Houston Chronicle, prosecutors dropped a second-degree assault charge against Porter this week due to “insufficient evidence.” However, he still faces charges of second-degree strangulation and third-degree assault, so the dropped charge doesn’t materially affect his NBA outlook — no team is likely to consider picking him up at least until the legal process has played out and the league has handed out its own suspension.

The Rockets’ goal in shopping Porter was to replace him with a player who could actually contribute on the court this season. It’s unclear what the team’s plans are for Oladipo, who is still recovering from a torn patellar tendon in his left knee, but Robinson-Earl should provide some depth in Houston’s frontcourt.

Once the deal is complete, the Rockets will have 16 players on standard contracts — 14 with fully guaranteed salaries, plus Aaron Holiday on a partial guarantee and Boban Marjanovic on a non-guaranteed deal. The team will have to waive or trade one of those 16 players by Monday to get down to the regular-season roster limit. It’s possible Oladipo will be the odd man out if his recovery is expected to extend well into the season, though his expiring $9.5M salary could be useful for salary-matching purposes in a subsequent deal.

As for the Thunder, they were facing a roster crunch of their own this fall, with 18 players on standard contracts for 15 regular-season roster spots. In trading Oladipo and Robinson-Earl for a player whom they’ll waive immediately, they’ll reduce their roster count to 16 players, meaning only one more cut (or trade) will be necessary before opening night.

Acquiring Porter doesn’t look great from a PR perspective for Oklahoma City given the allegations he faces, but the team will drop him immediately and acquires two more future draft picks in the deal. The Thunder also received two future second-round selections when they took on Oladipo in a salary-dump deal with the Heat earlier this offseason, so they’ve essentially added four second-rounders by taking him on from Miami and then flipping him to Houston.

Once they waive Porter, the Thunder will eat $15.86M in dead money this season, plus a $1M partial guarantee for 2024-25. The rest of Porter’s four-year, $63M+ contract was non-guaranteed, so Oklahoma City won’t be on the hook for additional money. beyond that $16.86M. OKC also generates a $1.9M trade exception in the move, tweets Bobby Marks of ESPN.

As for the Rockets, they’ll save a little money in the move and generate a $4.5M trade exception. It’s also worth noting that Robinson-Earl, who is owed $1.9M this season, has a $1.99M team option for 2024-25, so Houston could hang onto him at a near-minimum price for two seasons.

Robinson-Earl, who will turn 23 next month, appeared in 43 games for the Thunder last season, starting 20. He had respectable averages of 6.8 points and 4.2 rebounds in a part-time role (18.9 MPG) and has shown an ability to make an outside shot (.344 career 3PT%), but was buried on OKC’s frontcourt depth chart.