Former Mizzou basketball phenom Michael Porter Jr. experienced a change of scenery for the first time in his professional career. The Columbia native was traded from the Denver Nuggets to the Brooklyn Nets for Cam Johnson and a 2032 unprotected first-round pick.

Porter’s career has been plagued by injuries, even dating back to his time at Mizzou. If he hadn’t injured his back in his first game at Mizzou, Porter never would’ve fallen to the Denver Nuggets at No. 14 in the 2018 draft. Before the injury, Porter was ranked No. 2 coming into the draft, close behind Marvin Bagley II, who reclassified.

Porter missed the entire 2018-19 season after recovering from a surgery he underwent in 2018. After losing to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers in the NBA Bubble, Porter underwent another back surgery in 2021. This was his most recent major surgery.

From 2022-23, Porter was let loose on the rest of the league with no minutes restriction. He started 62 games, averaging 29 minutes and 17.4 points per game while shooting 48.7% from the field and 41.4% from 3-point range. Porter added some jewelry to his collection, winning his first championship with the Nuggets in 2023.

The following season, Porter started in 81 games for the Nuggets while sustaining no major injuries. In 2025 however, Porter suffered a shoulder injury in the first round of the playoffs against the Los Angeles Clippers. The wear and tear on Porter’s body was exposed during this series. The Nuggets advanced past this series in seven games, but fell short to the eventual champion Oklahoma City Thunder in five games.

Two months later, the Nuggets traded Porter to the Nets. The Nets previously dealt Johnson’s close friend, Mikal Bridges, to the New York Knicks last summer. It was evident that the Nets planned to move on from Johnson soon.

Many were skeptical of the trade when it happened because of Porter’s injury issues and shoot-first mentality meshed with an already offense-heavy Nets squad. Nonetheless, he stepped into the Nets’ roster as a main source of scoring.

Porter is doing what everyone thought: shooting at will. After the first 17 games with his new team, Porter is averaging 8.6 3-pointers attempted per game, the third-most in the league. Porter currently leads all Brooklyn players in shot attempts, with 18 per game.

As a result of increased shot attempts, Porter is averaging a career-high 24.3 points per game. The real improvement for his game this season is the rebounding. Porter currently leads the team in rebounds per game with 7.4, also a career-high.

This scoring flurry has not translated to wins for this squad, as the Brooklyn Nets currently sit at No. 13 in the Eastern Conference with a 1-10 record.

After playing in a Denver Nuggets system where Porter was able to shoot whenever he wanted and alongside one of the premier playmakers in the league, Nikola Jokić, Porter will have to balance out his game and learn how to affect winning in a different way than just scoring the ball.

The season is still young, and time will tell how this trade fares in the long run.

 

Edited by Killian Wright | [email protected]
Copy edited by Veronica Butler and Ava Mohror | [email protected]
Edited by Chase Pray | [email protected]