Michael Porter Jr. joked recently that he’s become an NBA ironman, but it’s not really a joke. In the last two and a third year, MPJ has missed a total of 12 games, six this season, five last season and one the year before that. Not all of have been due to injuries like the one he missed earlier this season to personal reasons.
What’s not spoken about so much is what it takes for the 27-year-old to get ready for each and every game he does play in … and excel! On Tuesday, Brian Lewis put it this way:
The Nets forward isn’t surprised with what he’s doing. Only how.
Doing it in the wake of potentially debilitating back woes and multiple surgeries, the same injuries and operations that ruined Ben Simmons. Doing it with foot drop, playing in the same brace that stroke victims wear to re-learn how to walk.
So far, so good. Porter is averaging career highs in scoring (25.9) rebounding (7.6) and passing (3.4) whileshocking most pundits, fans, teammates and his head coach with his shot-making.
“He makes open shots, he makes contested shots, and he makes impossible shots,” said Jordi Fernández, who was with Porter for four years in Denver as an assistant.
However, Porter is not surprised. He remembers how he was the top high school player in the U.S. his junior and senior before he had three back surgeries.
“I mean, my expectation when I got drafted — I didn’t really know much about the injuries and how they would have affected my body — was to be the best player in the NBA,” Porter said with his customary frankness. “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.
“But I think that that was my expectation because I knew what I was capable of, and I played against really good players my whole life. So what I’m doing now, it’s 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 just what I’m doing, because it’s not a surprise.“
While it may not be a surprise to MPJ, the Denver Nuggets head coach — and former assistant — David Adelman said Monday that the big advantage Porter brings to Brooklyn is that he’s available.
“Michael, we know how talented he is. I think the thing that he doesn’t have enough credit for — I said it in the playoffs — is he plays,” Adelman said.
“With the injuries he’s had, I just don’t think he gets enough credit for how tough he is. It’s not the brand of his game, but it really is to see him day-in, day-out, maintenance himself so he can be available was the most impressive thing for me. Mike has this ability, he always has. But for us, he sacrificed. That’s just the way it was.”
Lewis lays out just what Porter does before each game he suits up from Brooklyn and each game he’s played since his third back surgery in 2021-22.
It left Porter with nerve damage, specifically in his lower spine connected to the peroneal nerve. As a result, Porter still can’t properly lift his left foot. Every single game, he’s had to wear an ankle foot orthosis — or AFO — or risk tripping because the foot doesn’t function properly.
No other player in the NBA wears the AFO.
Of course, there’s always the possibility that MPG will not be a Brooklyn Net a month from now. However, while there have been multiple stories that other teams have expressed interest in Porter, there have been none in which Sean Marks & Co. are quoted as being interested. They are invariably described as “listening.”
In the meantime, Porter is likely to spend his time doing what he has done this year: surprise everyone but himself.
- The toll Michael Porter Jr. has endured to fuel the Nets’ run to respectability ($) – Brian Lewis – New York Post
