It’s that time of year again. Michael Porter Jr. is on the podcast circuit with its usual misogyny, assorted hangers-on and certified weirdness that, sadly, we’ve become accustomed to. He’s been warned about it and we’ve commented on it. But as in the past, there’s usually some news amidst the detritus: After intially admitting to hating the trade, New York has won him over and he can “see the the future” in Brooklyn.
In this instance, during an extended run with 21-year-old live-streamer with a half-million
followers, N3ON (described charitably as having “mastered the medium by stirring up trouble”) we see and hear MPJ, among other things: Get into an argument with an ex-girlfriend that leads to her doxxing him and police call; first scolding then jokingly (?) offering a youngster $500 to beat up a friend who had called MPJ the N-word at a video arcade; and suggesting that his decision to disclose Adam Silver’s personal phone number years ago may have cost him an All-Star berth … while also noting he apologized to the commissioner during the Nuggets ring ceremony. He even gets into the controversy surrounding Deni Advija’s loyalty to Israel. Like we said, among other things
Curious Mike indeed … but yes entertaining as well.
In the same conversation, all it not only streamed but broken into somewhat digestible pieces, MPJ spoke about last June’s salary dumps of all salary dumps, the one that sent him and an unprotected first round Nugget pick in 2032 to Brooklyn for Cam Johnson and some cap space that the Nuggets then used to sign Christian Braun. (Bill Simmons famously called it “one of the worst trades of the decade” and in a way he might be right … if he had been talking about Denver.)
As he has in the past, Porter described how he learned of the trade from his agent and the Nuggets GM on a flight to St. Tropez on the French Riviera but he added for the first time that he was not at all happy going to Brooklyn from a perennial contender…
“My first reaction, I was sick,” he admitted to N3ON. “because first of all, I knew Brooklyn wasn’t a good team at the time and I hated New York. New York is my least favorite city I have ever been in. I always hated New York because it’s so claustrophobic. I’m from Missouri in the middle of nowhere where you get to move around and New York’s the opposite so I hated that I was traded there. But then, I got there and know my way around, it’s lit! New York is crackin!” N3ON
When N3ON asks if Nets have a good “culture”, MPJ offered an enthusiastic response.
“Yeah, great culture. Everyone’s cool Young team! So that’s nice,” he added, saying that he’s embracing his role at the team leader as the third oldest player on the team (dropping to second by season’s end behind only Terrance Mann.)
In the same clip, Porter spoke about how he thinks the Nuggets made a mistake in trading him and how he sees the future in Brooklyn.
When N3ON asks if he thinks the Nuggets would’ve won the NBA title — instead of crashing out in the first round — with him on the roster, MPJ agreed.
“I do, they never should have traded me,” he said, but quickly pointed out that he is happy with the Nets. “Honestly, I’m living my best life in Brooklyn. Even though we didn’t do well this year, I can see the future. We’re the youngest team in the league. We got a lot of money to spend.”
In comparison with some of his podcasts last summer, the back-and-forth with N3ON, one of the top practicioners of live-streaming’, was tame. Not to mention that the 27-year-old Porter has ingratiating himself with Nets fans. Bottom line is he is what he is.
