Jun. 23—Although he didn't get drafted Thursday night, former Terre Haute South High School standout Craig Porter Jr. has signed a two-way contract with the NBA's Cleveland Cavaliers.

According to cleveland.com, the Cavs agreed to the contract with the undrafted free agent moments after the 2023 draft ended early Friday morning.

A 6-foot-2, 186-pound guard, Porter graduated from Terre Haute South — where he played only two varsity seasons and does not rank in the high school's all-time top 10 in scoring — in 2018.

"I am truly excited and happy for Craig," South coach Maynard Lewis told the Tribune-Star after hearing the good news. "He deserves this opportunity for all the hard work and positive attitude he had throughout the course of the years. He is a great young man with a great character. I am truly grateful for the opportunity to have been able to coach him."

"Craig has always been an underdog at every stop," South athletic director Ed Jarvis emphasized. "And then he outworks everyone [to earn more playing time and increase his status]."

Now 23, Porter began his collegiate career as a JUCO player, leading Vincennes University to a 62-7 record over two seasons and winning the NJCAA national championship in 2019. After receiving interest from a number of programs, including Indiana, Kansas, UConn, Oregon, Ole Miss, West Virginia, Texas Tech and Indiana State, he ultimately transferred to Wichita State, where he played three more years.

With the Shockers, Porter averaged 13.5 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.9 assists per outing in 31 games (30 as a starter) as a fifth-year senior during the 2022-23 season. His high-point game was 24 against South Florida on March 5.

The Terre Haute native earned Third Team All-American Athletic Conference honors. According to cleveland.com, he also became the first player in WSU history to lead the team in rebounds, assists, steals and blocks.

Prior to that, Porter tallied 7.3 ppg in 2021-22 (starting 24 out of 25 contests) and 2.1 ppg in 2020-21 (starting twice).

A newspaper story written by the Wichita Eagle's Taylor Eldridge said "two-way contracts allow NBA teams to move the player between the NBA team and its G League affiliate throughout the season, essentially allowing NBA teams to keep undrafted players 'on retainer' without signing them to a full-time contract. Each NBA team is allowed to offer three two-way contracts per season to players with fewer than four years of NBA experience."

Eldridge reported that Porter probably will begin his career playing for the Cavaliers' G League team, the Cleveland Charge, although he could play up to 50 games in the NBA for the Cavaliers on his two-way contract. Porter also is guaranteed a first-year salary of approximately $551,000, Eldridge added.

"It's likely Porter will get his first taste of NBA action playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas from July 7-17," the Eagle's story continued.

Cleveland.com said Porter worked out for the Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Boston Celtics, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat, Washington Wizards and Cavs during the pre-draft process.

During the 2022-23 NBA regular season, the Cavs finished with a 51-31 record, good for the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. But they lost to the fifth-seeded New York Knicks four games to one in the first round of the conference playoffs. Their leading scorers during the regular season were shooting guard Donovan Mitchell (28.3 ppg) and point guard Darius Garland (21.6 ppg).

Regardless of which NBA team signed him, Porter's mother — Rachel Higginbotham — is happy that her son will get an opportunity to realize his dream.

"Craig started playing sports at a really early age," she recalled. "I honestly thought it would be football or baseball that he would pursue because he played every sport and excelled at everything, but he really seemed to enjoy those two.

"He was 4 when he started going to the [Terre Haute] Boys & Girls Club and not long after that, he joined a [basketball] team there and people were in awe of this little, bitty kid in the room shooting back-to-back 3s.

"When coach Kenny Wayne Burkins knocked on our door and said he had heard about how good Craig played and that he was interested in having him on his team called Terre Haute Blue Demons, that is when the game changed for Craig. Burkins was a very serious coach who taught not only basketball knowledge, but the most important part of life — discipline. Burkins was a very dedicated coach to those kids."

Higginbotham said she couldn't remember a warm-weather day or night that young Porter and his brothers weren't on the court in front of their house playing basketball.

"Coach [Maynard] Lewis put in some extra work for Craig [at South] and he and Brian Davis made it possible for him to get to his JUCO school, where coach [Todd] Franklin was a tough coach who had stats that meant you had to be able to prove that you wanted to be there," she said.

"JUCO was a learning experience that taught Craig you have to work hard and when you're on that court, it's time to be serious. That rough-and-tough coach mentality is what instilled so much discipline in Craig."

After Porter decided to take his talents to Wichita State, he and his mom had to remember the importance of patience.

"At the beginning, he played behind some really amazing players." Higginbotham reflected. "Then coach [Isaac] Brown put a lot of confidence in him and encouraged him and off he went ... and we got what we've got now."

Fast forward back to Thursday: Higginbotham said Porter didn't show much emotion while watching the two-round draft and even afterward.

"He got the call [from the Cavs] literally 1-2 minutes after it was over and no one knew he was on the phone making a deal that would change his life," she mentioned. "There were soooo many family and friends there and he told us calmly with no emotion. We were not surprised because that's Craig and that's how he is. He never boasts. He never brags. He just stays humble and moves along.

"He did, however, tell me, 'Mom this is just the beginning, so let's all stay tuned.'"