Michael Porter Jr. didn’t have the best of the starts to his NBA career. After being drafted 14th overall by the Denver Nuggets in the 2018 draft, MPJ was sidelined during his rookie season due to injury.
Fast forward to 2021, he is now a crucial member of the Denver Nuggets and will make more than $5 million for the upcoming NBA season.
During the 2018 NBA pre-draft workout, Porter was expected to be a high lottery pick, but as we know it an injury killed the chances of that happening. The 23-year-old recently shared the story on ‘The Old Man And The Three’ podcast.
“Yeah, so I’ve never really talked about this too in detail, like, on anything like this. So, the whole process was, I had rehab from my first surgery that happened in Missou (Missouri), then I’m getting ready, I’m getting ready,” said the Denver Nuggets forward. “I didn’t go workout for any teams, so I just had one pro day. All the teams came to me in Chicago. And I worked out pretty well, I was in some pain but I thought that was just part of the rehab process. I worked out really good so Sacramento brings me in and was like, ‘Yo, if you feel good we’re going to take you with the No. 2 pick.’ I’m like, ‘Bet. That’s dope.’
He further continued, “But my agent wanted to have a second pro day just for the top 10 teams because he’s like, ‘Man, these guys are raving about you. Like, if you do really well there’s a chance you go No. 1, still, even after the surgery.’ So I’m like, ‘Bet.’ And the pro days were only like a week in between each other, so I’m getting ready, getting ready, and then two days before, I wake up that morning, and like, all the pain is down my leg, like, it’s crazy again after I had the first surgery. I call my agent, I’m like, ‘Yo, like, I can’t get out bed, bro.’ So he tells me, ‘Man, the teams are already on their way. Just let them evaluate you.’
“So I end up on the second pro day laying on the table, and all top 10 teams have their doctors there and they’re just evaluating me. The guy from the Clippers was the head doctor umm…and he’s the one that wrote the report. He was like, ‘Yeah, he probably won’t ever play again,'” he concluded.
here’s MPJ on his unique draft night experience. full ep live tomorrow Am! @jj_redick @talter pic.twitter.com/APY4Ipoqqu
— TheYoungManAndTheThree (@OldManAndThree) September 16, 2021
Despite the Clippers’ head doctor writing him off and possibly hurting his draft stock value, Porter never gave up.
He returned to the league a year later and started from scratch. In the previous season, the 23-year-old finally started to show signs of potential as he averaged 19.0 points per game for the entire season.
Considering what he did in the last season, a bright future awaits him for sure.
