Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. came to the Nets ahead of the 2025-26 NBA season with the reputation of not being afraid to shoot the ball no matter who's in front of him. Brooklyn was able to get Porter and a first-round pick from the Denver Nuggets in exchange for forward Cam Johnson and the Nets were able to see just how much of a shooter Porter was.
The Nets' content team put together a compilation of Porter making contested three-point shots over the course of last season and the video is over five minutes long, just to give an indication of how many times he achieved the feat. Last season, Porter led the entire NBA in contested three-point attempts per game in tight coverage, which the NBA describes as when the defender is within
2-4 feet.
Porter attempted 6.1 three-point attempts when facing tight coverage and he shot 35.3% on those shots, ranking third in the league among players who averaged three such shots per game. Houston Rockets forward Kevin Durant (39.2%) and Cleveland Cavaliers guard James Harden (36.0%) are the only players who shot a better percentage on tightly-covered three-point attempts last season.
Porter, 28, is coming off the best season of his career as he averaged 24.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game while shooting 46.3% from the field and 36.3% from behind the three-point line. As the Nets embark on their rebuild, players like Porter will have to find ways to create their own shots until players like Egor Demin and Mikel Brown Jr. have grown into their roles as playmakers for the entire team.
Porter, whose "Never Swing The Rock" nickname seems to fitting in the games when he's in a rhythm, did achieve a per-game career-high in assists so it's possible that he's focused on expanding his skillset as well. With forward Julius Randle joining the roster, Porter should be more easy looks as Randle draws more defensive attention, but it's good to know that the former Missouri Tiger can hit a tough shot every once in a while.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Watch Nets' Michael Porter Jr. make plenty of contested three-pointers
