The Denver Nuggets stormed back from a 17-point deficit to beat the New Orleans Pelicans 132-129 at Smoothie King Center on Sunday. While the Nuggets’ dramatic turnaround stole the headlines, what was also notable was that Michael Porter Jr., who has reportedly had his name mentioned in trade talks, played no part in it.
Nuggets head coach Michael Malone took Porter out of the game with 3:24 left in the third quarter and the forward stayed on the bench the rest of the way. He watched on as the team overturned an 86-72 deficit when he went out and ultimately emerged victorious.
Even if the Nuggets had failed to win, it would have been hard to argue with Malone’s decision to sub out Porter, as he didn’t play well in any sense of the word. The 26-year-old had just eight points (2-8 FG), four rebounds, one assist, and two blocks against the Pelicans and didn’t put in a lot of effort when he was on the court.
Malone had put Russell Westbrook in the game for Porter and the difference in effort was night and day.
Russell Westbrook made the extra-effort, hustle, winning plays when no other Nuggets wanted to. pic.twitter.com/T130oHd78v
— Harrison Wind (@HarrisonWind) December 23, 2024
Westbrook was out there fighting for the ball and his energy was a big reason the Nuggets came away with the win. He finished with 21 points (9-14 FG), five rebounds, five assists, three steals, and a block against the Pelicans to help the visitors improve to 15-11 on the season.
Porter certainly could learn a thing or two from Westbrook but perhaps he might have checked out due to the trade talks. NBA insider Evan Sidery reported that the Nuggets and Brooklyn Nets have engaged in preliminary discussions around swapping Porter and Cam Johnson.
We have seen players lose interest when their name gets brought up and that could be the case here. Porter might feel that he hasn’t been the biggest reason for the Nuggets’ slow start to the campaign, as he is averaging 18.0 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.4 blocks per game on 50.4% shooting from the field, but that’s exactly what makes him the likeliest to be traded.
Porter still has some value unlike his teammate Jamal Murray, whose stock is at an all-time low at the moment. So, if the Nuggets are to make any significant changes to their roster, he is the one who’ll have to head out. We came up with an intriguing mock trade that sees Porter go to the Nets in exchange for Johnson.
This is not the only potential trade in which Porter’s name has come up either. The Nuggets are reportedly interested in Zach LaVine and he’s likely to be the one to go to the Chicago Bulls if the teams do agree to a trade.
According to NBA insider Marc Stein, the Nuggets are hoping to land LaVine and Torrey Craig for Porter and Zeke Nnaji. The problem, though, is that the Bulls do not want Nnaji as he is on a four-year, $32 million deal. If not for this issue, Porter might not even be on the Nuggets as we speak.
It will be interesting to see how this situation develops over the next few weeks. With the Nuggets’ reported desperation to make a move, it seems a bit unlikely that Porter would still be on the team after the Feb. 6 deadline. He is on the team now, though, and we’ll see him in action next when the Nuggets take on the Phoenix Suns at Ball Arena on Monday at 10 PM ET.
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