After an 11-year NBA career that included a championship with the Golden State Warriors in 2022, Otto Porter has announced his retirement.
“For the past 11 years, I have had the opportunity to fulfill a lifelong dream of playing in the NBA,” Porter Jr. said in a statement released through the Utah Jazz. “That dream concluded with winning the NBA Championship! Unfortunately, my body is not allowing me to play at the level I expect from myself, so I have decided to retire.”
Porter had been fired by the Jazz earlier in the day.
If you want to know what kind of guy Porter was, go back to his rookie year with the Wizards after playing at Georgetown (Porter was the No. 3 pick in the 2013 NBA Draft). The writer of the letter to the Washington Post explained that when Porter arrived, a homeless man had spent about 25 minutes begging for food and money outside a sandwich shop in Washington, D.C., and had been inside. He went in and came out with two sandwiches, one for himself and one for a homeless person. Man, Then I sat down to eat and talked to the man.. The acts of generosity and kindness he showed when he didn't know anyone was watching spoke volumes about this man's character.
Porter, 30, averaged 10.3 points and 4.9 rebounds per game during his career. He played his first five and a half seasons in Washington, then spent his playing days bouncing around Chicago, Orlando, Golden State and Toronto. The Jazz acquired Porter Jr. in a trade that sent Kelly Olynyk and Ochai Agbaji to Toronto, but Porter Jr. never appeared on the court in Toronto. After being traded to Utah, he left the team to consider his options.
Porter has battled health issues and has played in just 23 games over the past two seasons. He has played in more than 30 games in a season only once in the last five games (during the Warriors' title run season in 2022).
