Former lottery pick exercises player option with Raptors

Raptors reserve combo forward Otto Porter Jr. exercised his player option for 2023-24, sources inform Shams Charania of The Athletic.

As Charania notes, Porter appeared for a scant eight contests during his inaugural stint with Toronto this year. He underwent a surgery to correct a left foot ailment in January, described as a dislocated left toe, that ended his season. The Raptors filed for a $3M disabled player exception following the operation.

Porter inked a two-year, $12.3M deal with Toronto after serving as a critical bench contributor for the title-winning 2021-22 Warriors. He is now set to earn $6.3M in the second year of the deal.

When he did play, the 6-foot-8 wing averaged 5.5 PPG on .500/.353/1.000 shooting splits across those eight games this season for a 41-41 Raptors club, along with 2.4 RPG, 1.4 SPG and 1.0 APG.

Blake Murphy of Sportsnet.ca tweets that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if Toronto explores a potential trade to offload Porter’s salary this summer, given how the team may be close to the league’s punitive luxury tax.