Cavaliers’ Craig Porter Jr. Just Made a Compelling Case to Change the Rotation

Cleveland’s undrafted veteran impressed to open the preseason.

Sep 28, 2026; Cleveland, OH, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers guard Craig Porter Jr. (9) poses for a photo during media day at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

In the Cavs’ preseason opening loss to the Boston Celtics on Thursday, a lot of different players got to showcase their abilities. A major part of these exhibition games are the opportunities that players receive to make an impression on their coaching staff.

For Cleveland, one of their biggest questions for the upcoming regular season is the backup guard spot out of their three options of Tyrese Proctor, Meleek Thomas and Craig Porter Jr.

All three of them showed promise against Boston on Thursday. Second-year Australian Tyrese Proctor went 2-for-6 from the floor in his 21 minutes of action. Rookie Meleek Thomas went on a seven-point scoring run in the third quarter to get Cleveland back in the game. Thomas shot 5-for-13 from the floor and 1-for-7 from downtown, also grabbing three steals.

YESSIR, LEEK‼️@ThomasMeleek | #LetEmKnow pic.twitter.com/WQ2Z2YitMZ

— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) October 9, 2026

But I was most impressed by the play of Craig Porter Jr.

The fourth-year guard has something to prove this year, heading into a contract year. He looked like it out there, making lots of plays on both sides of the ball. In just 16 minutes, Porter Jr. dished out ten assists with zero turnovers.

The backup point guard position is wide open for the Cavaliers, and Porter Jr. looked ready to make his teammates better. He kept attacking the lane in pick and rolls, finding shooters on the wing and cutters to the cup.

Porter Jr. also pulled down three boards, grabbed a couple of steals and tallied an impressive block against Boston’s Baylor Scheierman. Along with him nailing a catch-and-shoot three in the corner, Cleveland has reason to believe that Porter Jr. could thrive on the floor with their other star players.

Coach Kenny Atkinson will have a tough decision to make, figuring out who should earn those bench minutes. I found it very interesting that Meleek Thomas was the first of the three backup guards to come off the bench. To me, that shows that Thomas has won the training camp minutes so far.

Oct 8, 2026; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cleveland Cavaliers head coach Kenny Atkinson stands on the sideline during the first half of a preseason game against the Boston Celtics at Rocket Arena. Mandatory Credit: David Dermer-Imagn Images | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

But after Porter Jr.’s performance against the Celtics, I think he has an edge with his preseason minutes. Everyone else will have another shot in Cleveland’s next preseason game, which is not until Sunday evening.

The Cavaliers will host the Orlando Magic at Rocket Arena on Oct. 11 at 6:30 p.m. This will also serve as Cleveland’s first national television contest, being broadcast on ESPN.

Cleveland will hope to have All-Star guard James Harden available for Sunday’s contest, after missing the Celtics contest due to right ankle soreness.