Kevin Porter (born April 17, 1950) is an American former professional basketball player. He played eleven seasons in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and led the league in assists four times in his pro career.
Amateur career
Born and raised in Chicago, Porter graduated from DuSable High School, earning a starting point guard spot as a sophomore, averaging 15 ppg and 7 apg. Steady improvement in his junior (to 20.7 ppg, 9 apg) and senior seasons (22.9 ppg, 13 apg), earned him All-City and All-Area honors in 1968. Porter led DuSable to the last Chicago Daily News Christmas Holiday Tournament Championship.
Porter then played collegiately at Saint Francis University in Loretto, Pennsylvania. Porter thrived at Saint Francis, scoring 1,766 points in his career, averaging 22.9 over four years, including 24.7 ppg as a senior.
Professional career
Over an 11-year NBA career, Porter averaged 11.6 ppg, 8.1 apg, while winning four assist titles. Basketball historian Bijan Bayne said, “What always stood out about Kevin Porter is that he was pass-first, in an era of Pistol, Clyde, Pearl, Tiny, Westphal and Jo Jo. That watered down his star quality. But he had this signature high yo-yo dribble that was under supreme control, as he surveyed with his head up—unusual before Magic. He should be remembered as someone with quickness and vision who orchestrated NBA games against history’s premier guards.” Porter himself added, "That's what I did. I got the ball to scorers. That's what kept me in the league that long."
Baltimore / Capital / Washington Bullets (1972–1975) In the 1972 NBA draft, Porter was the 39th overall pick, selected by the Baltimore Bullets in the third round. In his second year, he led the league in personal fouls with 319. While he received 320 the next year, he won a starting role and won the first of four NBA assist titles (8.0 per game) in 1975. The Bullets reached the NBA Finals, but were swept by the underdog Golden State Warriors.
Detroit Pistons (1975–1977) In late August 1975, Porter was traded to the Detroit Pistons for Dave Bing and a first round draft pick used to select Tree Rollins. Porter suffered a knee injury in the first season with Detroit and appeared in only nineteen games. Returning to the court for the 1976-77 Detroit Pistons season, Porter clashed with coach Herb Brown, telling a Detroit Free Press reporter, "Write this - I want out. He is not man enough to say that the problem is him and me — well, I am. Nothing is going to get solved here." Sports Illustrated covered the tension but the Pistons made the post-season (44-38, .537) despite challenges between Brown and Porter, as well as those with Marvin "Bad News" Barnes in a season PistonsPowered would describe as "absolutely insane, probably the craziest in Pistons history. They won a lot of games, but were completely dysfunctional." John Papanek of Sports Illustrated (SI) would state, "if the Pistons were a TV mini-series, they would make Roots seem like Ding Dong School."
New Jersey Nets (1977–1978) In the early start of his third season with the Pistons, the tensions with Brown came to a head as Porter was traded with Howard Porter and cash to the New Jersey Nets for Al Skinner, a 1978 2nd round draft pick (used to select Terry Tyler) and a 1979 2nd round draft pick (used to select Tony Price). Herb Brown was fired as well.
With New Jersey, on February 24, 1978, Porter had 29 assists in a game against the Rockets while with the Nets. He also had 14 points and 5 rebounds in a season that led to his 2nd assist title (10.2 apg). The per-game assist record would stand until Scott Skiles tallied 30 assists on December 30, 1990. Porter also averaged a career high 16.2 ppg for the Nets in 1977-78.
Return to Detroit (1978–1979) After the season, Porter was traded back to the Pistons, now led by coach Dick Vitale, in exchange for Eric Money. In that season, he won his third assist title - 13.4 apg, including a remarkable 30 point-25 assist game, on March 9, 1979. Additionally he was the first player to record over 1,000 assists in a single season. It would be five years before another player would record over 1,000 assists. Porter appeared as a member of the Detroit team in the cult classic basketball film The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh in 1979 alongside Pistons teammates Bob Lanier, Eric Money, John Shumate, Chris Ford, and Leon Douglas.