The Kevin Porter Jr. Controversy & What He Offers The LA Clippers

The Kevin Porter Jr. Controversy & What He Offers The LA Clippers

on today’s show you’ve been asking for it we’re finally going to talk about it or should I say him kpj the elephant in the room everything you need to know or should know the talent that He has what he could bring to the table and what the Clippers are showing by bringing him to LA and finally how should we feel as fans going to be talking about it all on today’s lock on off season Clippers you are locked on Clippers your daily Los Angeles Clippers podcast part of the locked on podcast Network your team everyday day yes sir you were locking in with the clips thank you for making lock on Clippers the first listen of your day your team every every day I’m your host Darren vizeri born and raised in LA and just finished my 19th season as a Clipper fan in early may you can also follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Dime dropper pod And subscribe to my own YouTube channel dime dropper for even more LA Clipper LA Sports and NBA content and locked on Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast including YouTube where I want you to let me know in the comment section what you think about kpj how you feel about signing him as a fan given everything I’m going to talk about and of course I know there’s going to be some crazy disagreements on certain things that I say in this episode and this is a very sensitive subject so you know have at it at the in the comments but let’s try to keep it respectful this episode is going to be an interesting one I’ve sat on it for a while I wanted to make sure I spoke with the network to talk about what the best way to do it was what the main talking points should be and I think it’s just fair that I start off by giving you everything you need to know about the controversy surrounding Kevin Porter Jr because that’s the elephant in the room like we can talk about basketball and this and that but it’s just not it’s not right for me as a host to talk about a signing with such controversy and only talk about basketball and just completely ignore everything that’s just not how this works I don’t and this is not how fans feel I know how some of the fans feel I think I have a a pretty solid pulse on the fan base as close as people could have as someone could have I should say so let’s talk about it Kevin Porter Jr I knew him I mean I’m a USC fan my dad went there I’ve been supporting the USC sports I was seven years old but when he was at USC for a year I was in college so I didn’t really get to know anything about him except for the fact that he was suspended by Andy Enfield and the coaching staff for like misconduct and you you know crossing a team policy or something like that and he was suspended uh for for like 2 weeks I remember at one point Andy Enfield was saying that he might not ever play the game as a Trojan again but he ended up still playing 21 games that season but that was already the first potential red flag then with Cleveland he was suspended early on in his NBA career he was a rookie in the 201920 co season he was suspended on November 4th for bumping into a ref and it was clearly intentional so again that’s nothing that’s like you know nothing crazy but it’s just like okay you got to relax buddy then he was arrested going into the next season on November 15th 2020 when he got into a car accident flipped his Mercedes SUV on an interstate southeast of Cleveland Police found a loaded handgun and a small amount of weed in the car apparently the car and the gun belonged to his mom not him the charges were dropped but he started the season inactive as a result of all that I got not much to say about that you know not that’s not the worst thing in the world accidents happened but still not safe then he had a locker room Outburst I remember this vividly he had a locker room Outburst when torian Prince got traded to the Cavs and I’m pretty sure Kevin Porter wasn’t playing yet so they moved his locker and he just went absolutely ballistic and allegedly was throwing things and he was the Cavs were like we don’t want this guy around anymore traded him to Houston for a second round pick that was like top 55 protected so it’s never going to convey so essentially they just said we don’t want this guy here anymore and that’s a guy who average 10 points as rookie year coming off the bench you know averaging double figures as a rookie coming off the bench I know the Cavs were bad but that’s saying something to give away someone like that because of actions like that so then he spent the 2021 the rest of the 2021 season in Houston spent the full 2021 22 season in Houston and that’s the season where he had an incident at halftime of a seventh straight loss for the rockets at the time he and Christian Wood apparently got called out by assistant coach John Lucas who’s a longtime assisant coach for the rockets and he threw a tantrum was throwing stuff and left the arena at halftime of a game against the the Denver Nuggets so this is at the point where I was like okay this guy’s clearly a problem like clearly and then the teams that he’s on are just bad teams not saying that’s completely his fault but let’s just say that he’s not doing anything to make it winning culture around there but the Talent is undeniable and I’m going to talk about the talent in the second segment this first segment I’m just going to address the elephants in the room which is the stuff surrounding kpj we’ll talk about the talent the basketball in the second segment and then we’ll talk about the Clippers are kind of doing showing by doing this but about right now what’s most important is the controversy and how we feel as fans because that’s what’s everyone’s talking about at least everybody I know now he was suspended one game for that altercation with the coaching with John Lucas he ended the season really well but as I said we’ll talk more about the basketball later after the 2022 23 season and mind you he had gotten paid a 4-year 82.5 million extension by Houston but some of it was non guaranteed because of this these offc Court incidents now after the season so going into this past season 2023 24 news broke that he was charged with wrangling his girlfriend Kyrie gondik who’s a she who has become a very well-known WNBA player who actually just got waved by the Chicago sky for two reasons one for being involved in this and two for you know being one of at least in my opinion I know you know looks are all subjective and you know someone I want someone I know that used to always say to me beauty is in the eye of the beholder but for me one of the most beautiful wom women in the WNBA and she’s well known for those two reasons right now and now she’s dating Jaylen Brown apparently so hey shout out to Jaylen brown but he was charged with strangling her and the initial reports were that he he pleaded not guilty and was released on a $75,000 cash bail but the report said that he returned early Monday morning in September of 2023 from a night out to the Millennium Hilton where he and uh gondik rang and she was upset about how late he was coming home and locked the door and then once he entered with the help of hotel security apparently he beat her up and apparently this is according to the initial reports Kyrie gondik told police that kpj struck her repeatedly about the face with a closed fist causing a laceration above her right eye and bruising and substantial pain to her face also said that uh kpj applied pressure to her neck by forcefully squeezing it causing her to experience difficulty breathing redness and bruising to her neck and substantial pain she was taken to NYU langoni I don’t even know if I’m pronouncing that right langon or langoni medical center where doctor said she suffered a fractured vertebrae in her neck there were no pictures of this I for one I at one point thought there were pictures of this but there were no pictures of her bruises or anything like that not that I’ve seen and at the time kpj was du back in court on October 16th of 2023 so initially when those reports came out we were like yo oh my God like this is terrible this is crazy how like you know screw this guy what a terrible person and like that’s totally valid like that’s completely unacceptable you know where I and the way I was raised you don’t put your hands on a woman at all period uh without her consent and that is just you know hitting I I think hitting anyone is wrong obviously but you know hitting a woman hitting your partner it’s just completely out of bounds and I don’t think that a player should should get the privilege of playing in in a league that everyone dreams of playing in when doing that like at the end of the day these people it’s not just about basketball these people are public figures these people are public figures kids look up to these people we are actively rooting for them like they may not all be great guys in real life but like okay someone’s kind of an Jesus excuse my language someone’s kind of a jerk someone’s not the nicest a fan someone’s greedy money hungry selfish cocky arrogant you know okay but beating up some I mean beating up your girl now again let’s continue though because there’s more to this story let’s continue so hold off on your comments if you’re coming at me saying this and that I’m going to get into everything so then news came out October 17th 2023 I don’t know if this was the exact first time it came out but around this time where Kyrie gondik denied some of those allegations and told the New York Post that it’s not true she said that the kpj didn’t break her neck now mind you they had broken up after this she said that my injuries don’t support any of those claims she said that the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and cops were to blame for the inaccuracy so that they are fabricating things essentially is what she’s saying and she goes he didn’t hit me he never balled his fists up and hit me and he definitely didn’t punch me in the face numerous times that is a lie I don’t have any injuries to support that he and she also shot down that kpj had a history of abusing her but she did say that she’s no longer dating him and hasn’t been in contact with him since he was arrested uh kpj was slapped with a assault charges at the time and here is the update on that so that’s I mean that’s big time right but like you know there is there is so much talk and and stuff out about you know what happens a to victims after this stuff happens and like the mental trauma and all that like we also don’t know what happened after this like I don’t know maybe there’s a lot of money paid to her to say this like who knows I would hope that she would have she wouldn’t do that and if if she actually did get H she would have more self-respect than to just take money uh like hush money essentially I hope that wouldn’t be the case but the fact that she’s come out and said that it’s like damn and we also don’t have pictures or anything like that we’re just going with the word of the District Attorney’s office right so then in January of this year kpj reached the ple deal in the New York City domestic assault case that will keep him out of jail if he completes a court order treatment program and stays out of trouble he pleaded guilty to the Mi to misdemeanor assault and a harassment violation in connection with the incident and the prosecutor said that kpj attacked her leaving her covered in blood with a deep cut above her right eye but of course as I said she denied that and said the prosecutors are pushing a false narrative but under the agreement kpj must complete a 26th week by the way this is all coming from the AP talk uh basically quoting an article from the AP or paraphrasing Porter must complete a 26- week abusive partner Intervention Program or an equivalent program with a private counselor and he must also abide by a limited order of protection attend all court dates and have no further arrests and if he apply if he complies he’ll be able to withdraw his assault plea in a year and will be sentenced at that time to time serve for the non-criminal harassment count effectively clearing his criminal record entirely so the resolution this is coming from KJ’s lawyers the resolution will allow Mr Porter this a quote will allow Mr Porter to put this incident which involved false felony allegations and false facts behind him with no criminal record and move forward so they the lawyers obviously are saying you know kpj is innocent none of this happened Kyrie gondra said he never even closed his fist and of course the Rockets traded him to OKC who immediately cut him they paid him like 16 and a half million but man I really don’t know what to believe you know I really don’t know what to believe the fact that Kyrie gik disputed it and called it all fake news and false information is is makes you think apparently she said that kpj and her argued for not even 10 seconds in the hotel room and that the injuries were a result of her falling and hitting her head when he startled her coming into the room I just that just sounds like a hardto believe story but why would she be lying I don’t know and that goes back to the the sensitive topic of like if it did happen you know the mental trauma that comes from those kind of things especially a month after I don’t know her sister went out on Instagram and was going crazy on kpj when the initial reports came out but those were the initial reports who knows I don’t know how to feel I can’t lie I don’t know how to feel when when I first heard it and before I looked in all this I was like yeah I don’t want to support kpj I don’t want to support him I don’t want to support anybody that is involved in you know domestic assault you know domestic violence and assaulting his girlfriend and all this stuff I don’t want to root for someone like that and now that I’ve gotten older it’s not just about winning a championship by any means necessary for men having you know criminals on the team like I don’t want no thank you I’m sorry like I I would I want to be proud and rooting for something and yes I believe I want to root for decent human beings now again it’s District Attorneys Office and initial reports versus all this information I don’t know what to think but coming up we’re going to talk about the basketball side of things at this point he’s on the Clippers we got to talk about the basketball side of things going to be talking about that coming up I got to tell you a little something about eBay Motors passion drive and patience the formula for winning championships is also what keeps your ride or die alive eBay Motors has everything you need to maintain your vehicle and level it up to Peak Performance superchargers roof racks exhaust kits LED headlights and more whether you’re into speed power or style eBay Motors has you covered with over 122 million parts for your number one ride or die you’ll always find exactly what you’re looking for and with eBay 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games and he even had a 50.5 rebound 11 assists game against the eventual Champion bucks no Giannis in the game but still and he became the youngest player in NBA history to score 50 points and have 10 plus assists in a game he showed a lot of potential there now granted the Rockets were 4 and 22 in those 26 games they weren’t good he was putting up stats on a bad team but not a lot of people can score 50 points in an NBA game not a lot of rookies can score 50 points in an NBA game he averaged 17 points and six assists That season you started to see some pick and roll chops some good lot passing I don’t know how good of a passer he is over Raw cuz I don’t get I didn’t get to watch him every night he can pass but I don’t know if he’s much of a willing passer he’s definitely more of a gunner but anyway 42 and a half% from the field shooting 31 from three 73 from the line so not very good splits but again he’s out there just gunning on a bad team trying to get more NBA reps it’s not a big deal year two in Houston Rockets have Jaylen green now so they kind of split the ball handling duties you see a little bit more catch and shoot from kpj and it was a rough start to the season he was very inefficient to begin That 2021-22 season he did end up being pretty solid in the catch and shoot uh but he really just ended the season on a tear he had a triple double against the Sacramento Kings late in that season and he I’ll just tell you his splits because to end the season he was really on fire now granted the Rockets were one of the worst teams in the league but for example in the month of April the last five games of the Season he averaged 296 and seven then in the month of March he averaged 16 and a half points five rebounds and six assists so he ended the season better than he started it in 2021-22 but overall he had a slight statistical drop except for in three-point shooting so he went from 17 points to 16 points still averaged four rebounds a game actually a little bit more rebounds per game in 2022 and then 0.1 difference in assists 6.3 in 20121 6.2 in 2022 he shot 41 a. half% from the field in 2022 and 37 a half% from three so 6% better in 2022 than 2021 free throws though 64% which is very bad considering he’s shown shown three level score boring ability played 61 games and started every single one for a bad Houston team now the last season he played in the NBA by the way as I mentioned earlier he got a four-year 82. half million do extension but again it was some of it was not guaranteed he was cooking that season absolutely cooking but his team was a joke to me the most unserious NBA team I’ve ever seen coached by Steven Silas a bunch of young guys no structure no discipline no defense at all and I know he was a part of that Jaylen green kpj two fairly inefficient Gunners um and then you have shenon rookie Jabari Smith and you know guys like J Shante e just a bunch of young guys no adults in the room 59 games played for kpj they were 18- 41 in those games they were 4 and9 without him so even though their team was terrible and you can say he was part of the not disciplined you know nature of the team they were really bad without him way worse and he had a very good statistical season career highs in basically everything 19 points a game five rebounds six assists one Steel on 44% shooting 37% from three and 78% from the free throw line which was a career high so he’s still showing even though he’s only played for bad teams he’s still showing he is a solid NBA player he was their second leading scorer after Jaylen green and he took three less shots per game aage three less points there is no doubt that there is a very talented player here no doubt about it in my opinion his role though on a good team is best served in being a a sixth man we already have Norman pal he though gives us some juice off the bound some athleticism there were rumors before that last season that he was 66 he had grown I don’t know how true those are but my question is what does this mean for bones Highland I’m going to be talking about that coming up this show is sponsored by better help you know it’s really easy to compare your life to others I think that’s something that we struggle with all the time as human beings especially in the modern day and age we have Instagram and social media and all these different things and especially in Los Angeles you’re so close to the biggest stars some of the biggest stars in the world and it’s so easy to compare and look at what you don’t have social media absolutely plays a part in all that and also being here is tough as well comparison is a thief of joy and it’s easy to Envy other people’s lives it might look like they have it all together on their Instagram or their Twitter but in reality they probably don’t therapy can help you focus on what you want instead of what others have so you can start living your best life if you’re thinking of starting therapy give better help a try it’s entirely 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here’s the thing a 19 point a game scorer is not something to scoff at bad team or not bones Highland as much as I love the guy love him he hasn’t come close to that but granted there’s a lot of people including myself that believe that if bones Highland had a situation like kpj where he’s got nothing to lose and he can just play free Reckless ball with no abandonment he with Reckless abandonment I mean I think he could average points but I’m thinking like 15 I don’t know about 19 kpj just much bigger than bones so and he’s in his mid-range he can get off that step back mid-range he’s got that I want to say down pat but he’s got that in his back that step back he’s Shifty he’s a fun exciting player the talent is has always been there but and the NBA game suits him much better than College you know spaced out and the spacing of the Clippers that could really help him potentially but I it’s it’s tough man are we going to wave bones Highland are we going to try to trade bones Highland I don’t know are we going to pass up on what bones Highlands I mean bones Highland’s time has come because Russell Westbrook he’s days away from a trade the holdup is that you know the Utah Jazz because we’re trying to get Chris done we’re trying to work that deal out but the Jazz don’t want to get Westbrook and bring him back and the nuggets the Clippers are trying to get some more from the Nuggets than what they’re probably offering they’re probably offering like a second round pick or cash then the Clippers are like I want a little bit more you’re still trading for Russell Westbrook they’re like well you guys don’t think Russell Westbrook is that good clearly that’s what I’m guessing is happening but kpj want to see if I can get certain stats about him so his last season playing 44% of his shots were threes that’s a lot that’s a lot 15% within three feet 22% from 3 to 10 feet so that’s a little floater short mid-range and then 22% I’m sorry 11 and a half% from 10 to 16 so mid-range and then the shot that’s very discouraged in today’s game long two from 16 feet to the three-point line less than 10% I don’t have too much of a problem with the distribution but except for the threes I mean it’s 44% is a lot that tells me that he’s heavy jump shooter even though he can get down downhill now I don’t know how great his first step is if you watch highlights yeah he can get downhill if you watch games sometimes he can get downhill he can get downhill better than a lot of players the Clippers have but like is he quicker than bones Highland probably not bones Highland’s really fast at the ball but he can Elevate he’s stronger now when he gets to the paint he shoots 71% from the basket to three feet inside 3 ft 71% that’s really solid it’s pretty good from 3 to 10 just 38 and half% so that floater is not great that should be a 40% or higher shot that floater or a short mid-range 46% from the mid-range 10 to 16 that’s pretty good that’s pretty good and then the shot that I said is discouraged doesn’t take much 48% so he’s got a mid-range he does he’s one of those players that does and to but to me I looked at his highlights throughout this last couple Seasons nothing comes really like off the ball he’s pretty stagnant it’s a lot of catch and if he can make catch and shoot threes the way he did that past season that’ll be big time but if we can get him in movement a little bit more that would be nice I don’t expect too much from him like that to me he’s a six-man Energizer kind of guy come in get Buckets but we have guys like that we have three essentially right now with norm kpj and Bones the only thing about Norm is he doesn’t really create he’s not like a Jamal Crawford or Lou Williams or even a kpj in that respect he’s kind of a guy that plays off stars but he can just get Buckets so it’s going to be interesting to see what we do I genuinely don’t know what we’re going to do with the bone silent situation I think bone silent and kpj is pretty redundant but what does this say about the Clippers well we know the Clippers have been trying to be that team that rejuvenates guys careers and gives them a second chance but we’re talking about guys like niik Batum who were called washed in the basketball World we’re talking about Reggie Jackson who was called Washington basketball and nobody wanted him James Harden who had no takers teams that wanted to trade for him Russell Westbrook who’s value was low at the time and contending teams didn’t really want him outside of maybe Miami the rumors with that Clippers have been the team and John Wall you know he looked like he was washed done Clippers said you know what let’s take a chance didn’t work out Josh Primo now that has more in relation to this something that’s bad for PR stuff involving women the Clippers have made it clear that they want to be a team that’s like a Rejuvenation Center I don’t want to say rehab center cuz I mean yes rehab but like I don’t want to sound you know messed up because I do encourage people you know I encourage rehab rehab is not bad rehab is good you know EX for people that you know struggled with things I don’t want to you know make it seem like I’m discriminating against people that have gone to rehab or making a joke about it because I’m not but I’m just saying that the Clippers they they are like this is what they seem to want to be they want to be a team that gives guys Second Chances and look I just want to say this if it’s true and Kevin Porter Jr actually did beat up his girlfriend that you know I believe in second chances stuff like if my sister got hit by a guy I think he should like die like honestly like you know what I mean like I don’t no sympathy I’m sorry like if that happened to my little sister I would actually want them like I would actually want to kill them with my bare hands so that second chance stuff like when you’re a grown adult like not with that for me I’m sorry but if it didn’t happen it didn’t happen I don’t know that’s not a stuff when it comes to like robbing something okay second chance when it comes to certain mistakes second chance that is not just something like that yeah I don’t know this this this was a tough episode to record I tried to be as I don’t even know what the words are careful as possible I know it’s going to be a lot of nastiness in the comments but this isn’t an easy job and it’s especially not easy when the players are employing guys with this kind of History my thing is this the history does not do him any favors that he could do something like that I know it has nothing to do with women that other stuff but I don’t know there are some people that think how you do one way is how you do everything I’m not one of those people but I don’t necessarily feel extremely comfortable rooting for this guy I’ll put it that way I don’t necessarily feel very comfortable if he’s innocent by all means I’d love to root for him no question about his talent though let me know what you think of the episodes I want to apologize if I’ve offended anybody with the rehab comment or anything like that again I always encourage people that have struggled do not be afraid or hesitant to go to rehab don’t be ashamed of it at all I know I one of one of my really really good friends went to rehab because he was doing too much too much uh too much drinking too much weed too much of all that early in our College days and he’s one of my best friends and he’s you know been off that for several years now so just want to make that clear you can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Dime dropper pod subscribe to my own YouTube channel dime dropper for even more LA Clipper LA Sports and NBA content and lockd on Clippers is free and available wherever you get your podcast let me know what you think of the episode and what you think of the signing of Kevin Porter Jr the age-old proverb continues go Clippers

The LA Clippers recently signed Kevin Porter Jr. Porter Jr. last played for the Houston Rockets in the 2022-23 NBA season and was traded and subsequently waived by the Oklahoma City Thunder due to his domestic violence charge, where he was accused of beating up his ex-girlfriend and WNBA Player Kysre Gondrezick.

In this episode, die hard Los Angeles Clippers fan and Host Darian Vaziri talks about how he feels about the signing due to his past, what he can offer as a basketball player, and what that shows about the franchise right now.

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