Report: Otto Porter picks up 2023-24 player option

The Raptors’ prized (aka only) 2022 free agent signing only played 8 games this past season.

According to a report from NBA Insider, Toronto Raptors forward Otto Porter has picked up his $6.3 million player option for the 2023-24 season.

If you forgot Otto Porter was a Toronto Raptor or don’t know who that is, well, that’s because he only played in eight games in 2022-23.

Porter was the team’s only significant free agent signing in the 2022 offseason, and looked to be a great fit — at his size (6’8”) he fit in nicely with the Raptors’ positionless Vision 6’9” approach, bringing the added benefit of his 39.7% three point shooting to a squad that struggled to shoot the ball from distance.

Of course, all of that remained “in theory” as Porter missed the first two weeks of the season with a hamstring strain, came back for 8 games (starting 2!) and then dislocated his left toe. Porter spent a month trying to manage the injury before it was determined that surgery was necessary, and he was sidelined for the rest of the season.

You can read more about Porter’s potential fit with the team in our 2022-23 player preview.

Coming off the injury, it only makes sense for Porter to pick up the option and lock in that money. $6.3 million is a perfectly reasonable salary for a vet wing, and we certainly hope he can come back strong and contribute in the 2023-24 season.

Of course, there’s a pretty good chance Porter is not a Toronto Raptor next season. That $6.3 million one-year contract is very tradeable, either as a valuable piece on its own for a team that could use a vet like Porter, or, more likely, as salary-matching “cap ballast” in a larger deal.

With the Raptors having already shed their coach and likely taken Vision 6’9” as far as it can go, it feel like more changes are just over the horizon. Moving Porter might just be one of them.