Porter Jr. Otto will return Saturday night for the Toronto Raptors. The 30-year-old guard has been out since late December with a right knee sprain but will be ready to go against the New York Knicks, the team announced.
Porter had been in and out of the rotation for Toronto before the injury as the Raptors looked to keep Porter healthy. He’s appeared in just 15 of Toronto’s 42 games this year after missing all but eight games last season.
Toronto may use Porter off the bench alongsidec and Bruce Brown. The team had toyed with the idea of using him as a small-ball center before his injury but the addition of Brown may make that redundant. Porter should, however, add some more floor spacing for the Raptors as a career 39.7% three-point shooter. He’s generally been a net positive for Toronto when he has been on the court this year. At the very least, the next couple of weeks could be an opportunity for Toronto to showcase Porter ahead of the Feb. 8 trade deadline. He’s unlikely to fetch much in return, but he’s shown he can be a valuable rotation player on a championship team when he’s health.
The fact that Jakob Poeltlhe’s on an expiring contract at a reasonable $6.3 million this year could make him enticing to playoff-bound teams looking to add one more low-cost player ahead of the post-season. Toronto is still without Jakob Poeltl who continues to work his way back from an ankle sprain.
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