Michael Porter Jr. is having a terrific 2025-26 season, and he powered the Brooklyn Nets to a 127-115 win over the Denver Nuggets, his former team, at Barclays Center on Sunday. Porter’s play as the first option on the Nets has surprised many, but not him, as he stated postgame that he believed he’d be the best player in the NBA when he was drafted.
“My expectation was to be the best player in the NBA,” Porter said, via Erik Slater. “And injuries had it’s 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, play a lot of years… What I’m doing now is not a shock to me.
“I think that doing it in the way that I’m doing it post-injury, I think that’s a little bit more what I’m proud of than what I’m just doing,” Porter stated. “‘Cause this is not a surprise, but I have been through a lot in my career.”
It’s easy to forget now, but ESPN had once ranked Porter as the nation’s No. 1 recruit in the Class of 2017. He was seen as someone who absolutely could be a superstar in the NBA.
Porter had committed to Missouri after shining at Nathan Hill High School (averaged 36.2 points and 13.6 rebounds per game as a senior), and was seen as the program’s savior. Disaster struck in their season opener, though, as he was forced to exit after just a couple of minutes due to injury.
It was later announced that Porter had undergone lower back surgery and was out for months. He had a microdiscectomy of his L3-L4 spinal disks in November 2017 and was expected to miss the rest of the season. To his credit, he did manage to come back right at the end and played two tournament games.
Porter then headed to the NBA, but the injury meant his stock had dropped. He was seen as such a risk that he nearly fell out of the lottery. The Nuggets finally decided to take a chance on him by selecting him with the 14th pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
Porter wouldn’t play a single minute for the Nuggets in the 2018-19 season, though. Doctors discovered that a second back surgery would be required to address the issues that the first one did not. So, Porter underwent another in July 2018.
It was only on Oct. 31, 2019, that Porter finally made his NBA debut for the Nuggets against the New Orleans Pelicans. He had a pretty good first showing, too, recording 15 points (5-8 FG), four rebounds, and one assist.
Porter averaged 9.3 points per game as a rookie and managed to up that average to 19.0 in his sophomore season. The Nuggets gave him a five-year designated max extension in September 2021, and all seemed to be going well. Unfortunately, it would be announced in November that Porter needed a third back surgery and would miss the rest of the season. Talk about a nightmare.
It’s no surprise, then, that Porter is so proud of how he’s playing now after all these issues. The 27-year-old is averaging 25.9 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 0.9 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game in 2025-26.
Porter was the third option for so many years in Denver behind Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, and is now showing what he is capable of. The Nuggets’ decision to trade him and a first-round pick to the Nets last offseason for Cam Johnson has worked out for all parties. He is looking like a star while they have more depth.
As for this contest, Porter had 27 points (8-17 FG), 11 rebounds, five assists, and one block in what was his first-ever outing against the Nuggets. He had missed the last two games with an illness, but was able to return here for a game that he said he had marked on his calendar.
Porter helped the Nets improve to 11-22 with this win. They’ll be taking on the Orlando Magic next at Barclays Center on Wednesday at 7:30 PM ET.
