When Michael Porter Jr. found out he got traded to the Brooklyn Nets, his first reaction was that he did not want to be part of a losing team because the Nets were a rebuilding squad last season. However, he realized that going to Brooklyn was the opportunity he had long awaited.
Porter played his first seven seasons with the Denver Nuggets. In Mile High City, he played with three-time MVP winner Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, who dominated the ball and took most of the team’s shots. Meanwhile, MPJ is expected to be the focal point of the Brooklyn offense.
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“When you have a championship-level team, there’s gonna be a lot of good players on that team, and there’s going to be some sacrificing going on. So when Aaron Gordon came over from Orlando to Denver, he was a number one option in Orlando, and he was probably the number four option in Denver. And so I think we just had so many players that we all had to find that niche and that role to make our team as good as possible,” said Porter during his recent appearance on the “Glory Daze” podcast with Johnny Manziel.
MPJ was the third option on a championship caliber team
In Porter’s seven years with the Nuggets, Jokic won the MVP three times and finished in the Top 2 in each of the last five seasons. As a versatile all-around player, “Joker” had a high usage rate and had the ball most of the time as he was the team’s primary playmaker, too. Meanwhile, Jamal Murray is a scoring point guard and, like Jokic, is most effective when he creates plays with the ball in his hands.
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Porter, who was one of the best players in high school before his injuries, has a career usage rate of 21.3 percent and has averaged just 12.3 field goal attempts per game. However, the new scenery in Brooklyn is going to change that, and MPJ knows it.
“There’s not a Nikola Jokic on our team that’s going to have the ball every time down the floor, making the decisions. So I’m going to have the ball in my hands a little bit more, have to make more plays, have to take tougher shots. It was a blessing to play with Nikola, a blessing to play with Jamal, AG and all those guys. But it’s going to be fun exploring my game a little bit as one of the go-to guys,” he added.
“Possession ends here” Porter no more
But “Curious Mike” isn’t just one of the go-to guys in Brooklyn; he is the man on the team as we speak. Although Cam Thomas is expected to ultimately sign with the team later this offseason, and he averaged 24.0 points per game on 18.2 field goal attempts last season, there is no doubt that Porter is the more gifted offensive player than Thomas. And the fact that the Nets didn’t give in to his salary demand shows how much or not they value him as their top player.
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Even with Thomas on the team, the only other double-digit scorers currently on board are Nicolas Claxton and Keon Johnson. With 12 of the current Nets players under contract having two or fewer years of NBA experience, including four rookies, Porter, Claxton, and Terance Mann are the most experienced players on the roster, and that should further solidify MPJ’s lead role on the team.
MPJ used to be called dubious names such as “Possession Ends Here”, “Final Destination”, and “Never Swing the Rock” when he was in Denver because each time he got the ball, he preferred to shoot rather than to pass. Those jokes will no longer be valid in Brooklyn because that’s exactly what they want him to do there next season.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Aug 23, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.