BROOKLYN, N.Y. — Unencumbered by the schematic restraints that characterized his seven years in Denver and kindled his eagerness to start anew, Michael Porter Jr. turned to the basket and sized up his opponent. His eyes narrowed as his nearest teammate cleared out through the lane, taking a defender with him. That left Jamal Murray alone, guarding Porter two steps inside the 3-point line on the right wing.
Porter was free to act on instinct. He was working with a 7-inch height advantage over Murray, but as the Nuggets know well, it might not have mattered who was standing in his way. Ascending another few inches off the ground, cocking the ball back above his head, Porter activated into one of the most mechanically refined shooting forms in the NBA. It was a tough 2-pointer, but it was untouchable.
MPJ took centerstage in his new role as Brooklyn’s primary scoring option Sunday, when he matched up against the Nuggets for the first time since being traded last July. In a game he had “circled on my calendar for a minute,” he led the Nets to a 127-115 win with 27 points, 11 rebounds and five assists — another productive outing in a season that has earned him All-Star buzz.
Even amid that development, Nuggets first-year head coach and long-time offensive coordinator David Adelman has no regrets about the tertiary role Porter played for them throughout the first chapter of his career.
“For us, he sacrificed. That’s just the way it was,” Adelman said. “Our two-man (with Murray and Nikola Jokic) has been successful, and him in the corner with Aaron Gordon in the dunker was quite a thing. So Michael, I thought we used him the right way. I’m sure he would disagree with me completely, which is OK. But yeah, we won a lot of games doing it that way.”
It’s no secret that Porter always had grander visions for himself. He was once the top prospect in his high school recruiting class, before back surgeries threatened his career. Over the years, he repressed his individual ambition while functioning primarily as a floor spacer in Denver. He won an NBA title with the Nuggets in 2023. He also had a shaky relationship with former coach Michael Malone, who often demanded more of him defensively while Porter in turn grew frustrated by the limitations of his offensive role and by Malone’s harsh coaching style, league sources told The Denver Post.
Still, Porter has spoken fondly of his time with the Nuggets since the trade, and he responded to Adelman’s comment Sunday with a nuanced perspective.
“I think whenever you have a team that talented, a championship-caliber team, there’s going to be guys that sacrifice,” he said. “… And some of the ways they probably could have used me, we had enough good players to where we could create a good shot in a different way. I didn’t need to come off a screen and be high-usage in that way, and shoot some of the tougher shots that I’m shooting here, which I can make. But over there, those may not be considered the highest-percentage compared to what we could get.”
On a rebuilding Nets team, he’s playing with the ball in his hands more often, averaging 60.5 touches per game compared to 41.8 over his last three years in Denver. He’s scoring 25.9 points per game on 49.5% shooting and a 40.8% clip from 3-point range on a career-high 9.1 attempts. It’s been proof of concept that his shot-making ability can remain highly efficient even without having Jokic as a teammate to generate open shots for him.
The Nets are 13th in the Eastern Conference standings, but they’re also 8-6 since the start of December. They won Porter’s minutes by a team-best 22 points on Sunday.
“I think that when the organization believes in you and they reiterate confidence, and there’s positive attitudes and positive vibes whether you win or lose, or whether you have good games or bad games, that can change a player’s production,” Porter said. “It can change his confidence. … (Nets coach Jordi Fernandez) is telling you, keep shooting. When we watch film, he’ll probably get more upset with you if you didn’t take a shot than if you did. So I think that when you’re constantly hearing that message, it can really help your confidence as a player.
“I’m in (my eighth year), and I still feel the difference when a coach really believes in me, and when they kind of second-guess the shots you take.”
Adelman and Fernandez used to be assistant coaches together in Denver, where Porter was drafted 14th overall in 2018. “It’s cool to see him have more freedom here under Jordi,” Adelman said Sunday, adding that he has missed Porter’s personality in the locker room as well.
The Nuggets sent a 2032 first-round pick to Brooklyn along with Porter’s $38 million salary to get back the cheaper Cam Johnson in the transaction, which also allowed them to acquire backup center Jonas Valanciunas from Sacramento. Johnson and Valanciunas were both out with injuries for the game in Brooklyn, where Johnson played for more than two seasons.
After the trade, Porter posted a video on social media thanking the Nuggets and lamenting the end of his time in Denver while also sharing his excitement about the opportunity to expand his game. That opportunity has come to fruition, while the Nuggets have gotten better output from their bench with a more balanced salary cap sheet.
“I think this trade was good for everybody,” Adelman said. “He won a championship with us. He’s one of the main reasons we did it. I woke up today and we talked about (Brooklyn’s) team, and the first thing I thought of was (NBA Finals) Game 5 when we won it. … That was his game. It really was.”
Porter had struggled with his 3-point shot throughout the series, but he managed a 16-point, 13-rebound double-double in the clincher, including a highlight between-the-legs dribble move in transition.
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“My expectation when I got drafted — I didn’t really know much about the injuries or how they would have an effect my body — but my expectation was to be the best player in the NBA,” he said. “And injuries had its way with me. But I think determination and resilience has allowed me to be able to still carve out a pretty valuable space in the NBA and play a lot of years.”
Enough to seemingly have his best ahead of him still, even after a memorable run in Denver.
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