Jontay Porter is trying to keep NBA dream afloat, and Raptors are helping him swim

For Jontay Porter, now comes the hard part, although he’s used to that.

It’s not the first time he’s been in deep waters, trying to keep his NBA dreams afloat.

The past few weeks have gone as well as could reasonably be expected. The Raptors' two-way signing has had the kind of opportunity a player in his position could only dream about: He was signed out of the G-league in early December to a team that was in need of size and young, developing talent.

Within the space of a few weeks, the Raptors traded away Precious Achiuwa, who was the closest thing the team had to a centre to play behind starter Jakob Poeltl. 

And then near the beginning of a six-game road trip earlier this month, Poeltl sprained his ankle badly enough that he was immediately ruled out for two weeks and still doesn’t have a firm return date.

In the blink of an eye Porter, a highly skilled six-foot-10 big, went from getting ready to suit up for the Motor City Cruise, the Detroit Pistons G-League affiliate, to watching Anthony Davis clips in his Beverly Hills hotel suite because he wanted to be prepared if he was matched against the Los Angeles Lakers star under the bright lights at Cyrpto.com Arena. 

“It wasn’t like I could sleep anyway,” Porter told me.  

There have been some real highs for Porter in recent weeks, especially for a player who only received more than seven minutes of playing time in an NBA game once — back in 2021 during an 11-game stint with the Memphis Grizzlies — over the course of a professional career that has been set back by multiple knee injuries.  

Since cracking Darko Rajakovic’s rotation earlier this month Porter has averaged 15.6 minutes a game over 11 games, hit double-figures in minutes in nine of them and started the last five straight in the absence of Poeltl. He had nine points, six rebounds, six assists, two blocks and two steals in a career-high 31 minutes against Utah and 10 points (tying his career high), four assists, four rebounds, two blocks and a steal in 19 minutes against Chicago.  

He's done the best he can to make the most of a chance that doesn’t always come for aspiring NBA players.

“I’d have to write a book to write down all the things I've learned in this short period of time,”  Porter, who is as thoughtful a professional athlete as you will ever meet, said after the Raptors practised at the OVO Athletic Centre on Wednesday. “Every game, every matchup it seems like when I'm learning something new. A lot of the time it's from mistakes I'm making, which, you know, it sucks to make mistakes, but at the same time, not having a lot of experience, I'm just happy to be out there. But I'm learning so that hopefully the next game out I can do better, eliminate those mistakes, and help our team win. But for the steady minutes and the steady gameplay, it's just a blessing, man. And yeah, it's been a lot of fun to just play basketball.”

But even as Porter was speaking it wasn’t hard to imagine his window for proving himself getting squeezed just a little bit. At the other end of the gym, Poeltl was going through a pretty vigorous post-practice workout with some of the Raptors development staff. The Raptors aren’t rushing him back, but he’s close to being cleared for full contact and after a few days to ramp up his game fitness he’ll be back in the lineup. The Raptors have lost seven of eight since their only seven-footer went down, and their defensive rebounding has suffered terribly with Toronto ranking 27^th over that stretch. 

Still, Porter might have a couple of things working in his favour, and one is that in the wake of the franchise-shaking trades Toronto has made in the past month and with the losses mounting, the team seems resigned to shifting hard into developing and rebuilding. Wins are nice, but not the only thing on the agenda right now. 

“I think in the big picture of where the team is going and how we need this team to develop toward the end of this season and into the summer and into next season, that trumps everything,” said Rajakovic. “… We’re not gonna sacrifice anything on our team development or player development;  that's most important thing for us, establishing the chemistry between the players and developing those guys on the court and off the court is the absolute priority.”

As it relates to Porter specifically Rajakovic is taking a wait-and-see approach. He’s not simply handing out minutes. A few defensive mistakes saw Porter sit the entire second half in the Raptors' loss to Memphis on Monday night and getting wrong-footed by guards on a couple of switches against the Chicago Bulls last week was noted also.  

But the first-year head coach worked with Porter during his only other NBA stint, with Memphis back in 2020-21 when Rajakovic was an assistant coach. He likes Porter’s passing ability, the possibility of him developing into a consistent three-point threat and the way he carries himself in general. 

“When Jak is back, I still see Jontay staying with us and getting his development with us as much as possible,” said Rajakovic. “I like his game. I think he's a young player with potential and definitely we want to give him a chance. We’re learning a lot about the team, we’re building a new team over here, so we’re going to give him a really good look, so we know what he’s got to do.”

If winning games isn’t the Raptors' top priority as they sit at 16-28 and 12th place in the Eastern Conference, it makes sense that significant time, effort and minutes be given to the process of finding some NBA players in unexpected places. 

As any Raptors fan knows, the real secret to Toronto’s long run among the big dogs of the Eastern Conference wasn’t only because of the effort of stars Kyle Lowry or Kawhi Leonard. Just as important was that from 2015 to 2017, Toronto only used one draft pick higher than 20th to acquire Delon Wright, Norm Powell, Fred VanVleet, Pascal Siakam, Poeltl (taken 9^th in 2016) OG Anunoby and Chris Boucher. All seven remain in the NBA and playing significant roles. Two (Siakam and VanVleet) became all-stars and Anunoby was named to the NBA’s all-defense team last season. 

Since then the development success stories have been few and far between. Having Porter, 24, emerge as a meaningful role player would help stem that tide. 

That’s where Porter’s ambitions lie as well. The younger brother (by a year) of Denver Nuggets star Michael Porter Jr., Jontay has always felt comfortable as the kind of player who facilitates for others. He’s a strong passer and prides himself on his outlet passing, modelling his ability to hit teammates down the floor and in stride after Kevin Love. 

“My ideal role in this league is to be a superstar role player,” Porter told me in a conversation we had when the Raptors were in Los Angeles and his minutes were starting to increase. “That means complementing others and making them look good. If you can get different guys the ball, the energy is contagious. The more we whip it around and everyone gets their hands on it, whether they shoot it or not, it just makes everyone have more fun and cheer on their teammates like it’s a Game 7. That’s kind of my role, I guess.” 

His IQ and feel for the game were enough that he was projected as a possible first-round pick when he enrolled at the University of Missouri, before he tore his ACL and MCL in his left knee twice — once as a sophomore in the 2018-19 season, then again before the 2019 draft. He ended up going undrafted and considered quitting basketball before recommitting to his rehab and ending up on the Raptors' radar.   

So he certainly knows what it’s like to fight for a job or even fight for your career. But in this case, the Raptors and Rajakovic are as hopeful about Porter proving himself as an NBA player as he is. The door remains open, and everyone is hopeful that he can break through, and Porter appreciates it. 

“I'm in a tough position as a young guy signing a two-way [contract] and then instantly being brought up in the rotation, and it comes with a lot of nerves,” said Porter on Wednesday. “I think I'm naturally a little bit more nervous of a guy you know, before going into a game like there's just a lot of nerves, shaking a little bit. So I think it was really important for me and my confidence to have a coach like [Rajakovic] who's constantly pulling you aside, sharing what he sees, sharing how you can be better … I'm just super appreciative of that. He's not just throwing me out there with the sharks and just hoping I don't sink but he's helping me, I believe, to swim.”