Otto Porter Jr. retires from NBA after 11 seasons
Shortly after being waived by the Utah Jazz, forward Otto Porter Jr. has elected to retire from the NBA after 11 seasons, the team announced Monday evening.
“For the past 11 years, I had the chance to live my lifelong dream of playing in the NBA,” he said via press release. “That dream was capped by winning an NBA Championship! Unfortunately, my body is not allowing me to play at the level that I expect of myself, and I have therefore decided to retire.”
Porter, 30, was originally waived Monday so the team could sign former Grizzlies forward Kenny Loften Jr. He was traded to the Jazz alongside Kira Lewis Jr. plus a 2024 first-round pick ahead of the trade deadline by Kelly Olynyk and Ochai Agbaji. He did not suit up for the Jazz and was not waived ahead of the March 1 deadline to maintain playoff eligibility as a buyout candidate.
This decision has likely been in the works for days–or even weeks–as Porter was sent home in late February to evaluate his options. He was in the final year of a two-year, $12.3 million deal he signed ahead of 2022-23.
Porter only appeared in 15 games with the Raptors this season after just eight last season, when he underwent season-ending surgery in January of 2023 to repair a foot injury. He averaged 2.6 points and 1.9 rebounds in 11.6 minutes across 15 games this year.
He played 11 seasons with five different NBA franchises, including Toronto: The Washington Wizards, Chicago Bulls, Orlando Magic and Golden State Warriors, where he helped them win an NBA championship in 2021-22. He played a fairly important role off the bench as the 8th man during that aforementioned title run, despite averaging just 5.4 pongs, 3.4 rebounds and 1.8 assists on 49.4 percent shooting and 40.4 percent from 3-point range across 19 games (three starts).
Over his NBA career, the 6-foot-8 forward was limited to just 527 career games, including 319 starts, due to myriad lower body injuries. He has played in at least 70 percent of his team’s games just once since 2017-18, his final year in Washington; he played in 63 of Golden State’s 82 (76.8 percent) in 2021-22. He had not played in more than 28 games (or 40 percent of his team’s games) in any other season since.
Over his career, he averaged 10.3 points, 4.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals in 25.4 minutes per game. Porter shot 47.7 percent from the floor, 39.7 percent from 3-point range (3.3 3PA, 39.4 3PAr) and 79.7 percent from the free-throw line–equating to a 55.5 effective field goal percentage and a 57.8 true-shooting percentage.
Best of luck with your future endeavors, Otto!
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