All around the NBA, players are having trouble finding their groove. Damian Lillard is having the worst stretch of his career in Portland while Steph Curry is having one of his least efficient shooting seasons in years.
Unfortunately for the Nuggets, Michael Porter Jr. finds himself in similar territory to start this campaign.
Through 8 games, the guy is averaging 10.9 points per game (down from 19 a year ago) on a career-low 36% shooting.
That much is bad enough on its own.
But things got worse for MPJ on Saturday night, when he blew a wide-open, fast-break layup in front of the home crowd.
Michael Porter Jr. really missed this layup 😳 pic.twitter.com/kFlZ2zvUau
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) November 6, 2021
The clip went viral online, which sparked criticism and trolling by both fans and haters.
https://twitter.com/dehzifys/status/1457095742422618112
Y’all said this man better than KPJ ?????
— Confused Houston Fan 🙃😕😐 (@Snyphe) November 6, 2021
MPJ after the nuggets gave him 207 million: pic.twitter.com/pWnEm4sJBV
— Zeke 💫 (@Zeke2Smooth) November 6, 2021
More importantly, he just looked down and walked back after doing so. Missing layups happen, it’s what you do after you miss that matters.
— NerdyKathy (@kathy_nerdy) November 6, 2021
MPJ counting up all that cash after fleecing the Nuggets: pic.twitter.com/wQELEfeSJ4
— Matt🇲🇽 (@Mattfm8) November 6, 2021
Dude really got that bag and said I’m done getting better
— 🦇 (@EasyCantMiss) November 6, 2021
Ngl This gotta be the worst open layup I’ve seen
— Baby Glove (@KrisDunnStan1) November 6, 2021
Remember guys, they’re paying this man $200 MILLION… 😂😂😂😂 might be the worst contract in the league
— EJB⚡️ (@TheEJB15) November 6, 2021
This man is averaging 10ppg and shooting 36% from the field 21% from 3 and 55% from the line
Nuggets aren’t punching the air right now they are sobbing tears
— Stix (@Stix617) November 6, 2021
https://twitter.com/Schnibbywhips/status/1457098099831152640
In fairness to Porter Jr., it’s not the first time a player of his caliber has missed a wide-open layup. It’s really not as uncommon as you might think.
More notably, however, is that MPJ did exit leave the game with an apparent quad injury, which may have been sustained during or after the play.
Either way, it was a rough miss and not a moment that he’ll be forgetting anytime soon.
For the Nuggets, things haven’t been much better. They’ve been struggling without Jamal Murray and are just 4-4 on the season. Even before the first game, there were some alarm bells ringing.
“It’s everything,” Malone said when asked what the Nuggets need to work on and improve heading to the 2021-22 season. “We’re just not a very good team right now. No organization, too many blown sets, too many blown coverages, lack of communication, too many turnovers, sloppy, throwing the ball all over the place, starters got beat today because they had 15 turnovers and the other team only had five.”
The sliver of hope in all of this is Nikola Jokic, who is playing some of the best basketball of his career right now.
The bottom line is, if the Nuggets want to make a deep run in the Western playoff bracket this year, they’re going to need MPJ to step up and play like the guy his team believes he can be.
Porter, 23, signed a five-year, $172 million extension over the summer.
