The Wizards shouldn’t trade for Kevin Porter, Jr., even if he never wears the uniform

Until last week, Houston Rockets guard Kevin Porter, Jr. was probably most well-known to Washington Wizards fans after color analyst Glenn Consor mistakenly said he was the son of former Bullets player Kevin Porter in a Jan. 2022 game. But right now, Porter is in a whole world of trouble because he is charged with allegedly assaulting his girlfriend, Kysre Gondrezick, in a New York City hotel room. Gondrezick is a former WNBA player who played for the Indiana Fever in 2021.

The details of the assault are bad. Porter allegedly punched and strangled Gondrezick, who left the room bloodied and asked for help, which was when Porter was ultimately arrested. Initial reports stated that Gondrezick’s vertebra was fractured, but this was later disputed by Porter’s legal team, where they claim that there was a congenital defect as opposed to an injury.

In light of the news, Shams Charania of The Athletic reported last Thursday that the Rockets are trying to trade Porter, who is on the first year of a four-year, $63 million contract, though only the salary this season is guaranteed. The Rockets appear to be done with him and are trying to add multiple draft picks for a team to take his contract.

It’s unclear which teams are looking to acquire Porter. But if this assault never happened, it makes basketball Xs and Os sense for the Wizards to see if they can acquire a package involving someone like Porter. They would get a young player on a team-friendly deal and multiple picks to help them continue their rebuild.

But I’ll be honest. I don’t want the Wizards to trade for Porter under any circumstances. While James Piercey of The Dream Shake is right to say that teams that acquire Porter may very well cut him soon after arrival, and that the Wizards have players like Landry Shamet and Delon Wright who could be pieces in such a deal, why should they (or any team) be willing to “take care” of the Rockets’ PR problem by having Porter, even if it’s for a very short time without him wearing a Washington uniform?

There have been players traded to the Wizards who never actually wore the uniform, like Zydrunas Ilgauskas in 2010 and Chris Paul this past summer. I don’t want Porter to be added to the list given the circumstances.