“Some of those shots are like, man, what has just happened?” Egor Demin said. “People can get mad at somebody who’s shooting shots like this because sometimes they make no sense, but we know that Mike can make them, so we trust him with that. And we really believe he can make those shots, as he did, as he’s been doing it. So we support him a lot to keep doing his job and keep being Mike. So sometimes it’s obviously mind-blowing, but that’s what he’s doing.”
Egor Demin says Michael Porter Jr.’s shotmaking is “mind-blowing” but becoming customary:
“Even knowing Mike, some of those shots are like, man, what is happening? People can get mad at somebody shooting shots like this, because they make no sense, but Mike can make them.” pic.twitter.com/w2xdjq5aoi
— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) December 24, 2025
Porter Jr. has played himself into the All-Star conversation while leading the Nets to a 9-9 record over his last 18 games.
Michael Porter Jr. leading dramatic Nets turnaround with All-Star-level play
Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
During that span, the 6-foot-10 sharpshooter has averaged 27.3 points — the 11th-most in the NBA – on 50/42/83 shooting splits. He’s one of seven players averaging 25-plus points on over 49 percent shooting from the field and 40 percent from three this season, alongside Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Nikola Jokic, Anthony Edwards, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jamal Murray and Kevin Durant.
Porter Jr. set a career milestone during the Nets’ upset win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday. The 27-year-old scored 25 points in the first half, a new career-high for any half. He finished with 28 points during the 114-106 victory, which marked Brooklyn’s sixth in its last nine games.
“He had 25 points out of the 63 that we had [in the first half]. So he was big, like we were in the game and we had the lead, and Mike was a big part of it,” Jordi Fernandez said. “As you guys know, he makes open shots, he makes contested shots, and he makes impossible shots. So he was huge for us. Obviously, in the second half, they had high-level defenders. He was not able to score as much, but I also think that he created attention, and other guys got open shots because of him. So that is also good. Sometimes you’re not going to see it on the stats, but his line was great.”
Porter Jr.’s career-best start should make him a hot commodity on the trade market leading up to the Feb. 5 deadline.
With the Nets in the early stages of a rebuild, they are expected to field offers for the veteran, who has one year left on his contract at $40.8 million after this season. However, at 27 years old, Porter Jr. is young enough to be a part of the Nets’ next iteration, should they decide to retain him.