From morning till night Thursday, one NBA reporter after another rubbished the idea that the Brooklyn Nets and Golden State Warriors have had any talks related to a trade involving Michael Porter Jr. In tweets, reports, podcasts, etc. reporters said the heavily rumored pairing was simply not real.

The parade of dismissals began with Shams Charania who until Thursday had not discussed the possibility. But that changed with a lengthy discussion of the Golden State Warriors. In it, the ESPN writer dismissed the possibility of Brooklyn trading Michael Porter Jr. to Golden State, writing specifically Golden State has never even been interested in MPJ:

As of this week, the Warriors hadn’t talked to the Brooklyn Nets in more than a month and have never shown real interest in a trade for wing Michael Porter Jr., league sources said. They’ve been fond of Trey Murphy III in the past, but the New Orleans Pelicans are rebuffing calls about all of their young wings, league sources said.

If the right star player is made available, the Warriors would be willing to move multiple first-round draft picks, team sources said, though they are more protective of their first-rounders in 2028 and beyond than their 2026 pick.

The commentary seemed to be in response to a spate of rumors that the two teams have interest in a deal, with Jonathan Kuminga, possibly Moses Moody and either one or two first round picks headed to Brooklyn in return. Shams was not alone by day’s end, with Zach Lowe, Michael Scotto and a trio of writers for the Athletic all weighing in, some even going further than Shams to suggest the Nets don’t seem to have interest in trading Porter at all.

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The Athletic even quoted the Warrior, rather than “league sources” as saying there’s been no “substantive talks.” Per Marcus Thompson II, Sam Amick and Nick Friedell:

Yet, while the Warriors have been tied to the Brooklyn Nets’ Michael Porter Jr., with the prospect of him coming Golden State’s way in that sort of three-team structure, a Warriors source insisted earlier this week that there had not been substantive talks between the two teams.

And although neither Shams nor the Athletic reporters said the Nets are planning to keep Porter, other reporters have within the last two weeks. Michael Scotto, Marc Stein, Jake Fischer and others have all reported, with increasing confidence, that the Nets apparently want to keep MPJ as they plan on making “big moves” next summer to push them into some sort of contention.

Porter, of course, is having an All-Star caliber season at age 27, averaging 25.7 points, 7.5 rebounds and 3.3 assists while shooting 49/40/84. He’s also become a fan favorite despite some controversy regarding comments he made on his and others’ podcasts. Porter was acquired from the Denver Nuggets along with an unprotected 2032 first rounder for Cam Johnson last summer.

Indeed one of those reporters, Scotto, followed up the ESPN reporter’s comment Tuesday morning by retweeting his comments he made to the YES Network last week. In those comments to Justin Schakil he warned Nets fans to temper their expectations about any Porter trade…

Scotto has said that the Warriors discussions about Porter have been limited to internal discussions. The Hoopshype writer — a Brooklyn native and resident — has also said that he doesn’t see the Nets moving Nic Claxton either, believing that the Nets see him as a long-term piece as well.

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Zach Lowe also chimed in, offering similar thoughts on The Zach Lowe Show podcast noting as well the narrative that Brooklyn isin “asset accumulation mode.”

‘Not sure Golden State would be the team for MPJ,“ Lowe said. ”I think if Nets got one really good thing, they’d be open to it. Milwaukee will mentioned for him. I do think there is a case for the Nets to keep him and don’t think his next contract will be crazy. My gut is that they’re in asset accumulation mode though.“

As for the most rumored offer for MPJ, Lowe said the Nets would likely reject it even if it had been offered.

“Kuminga, (Moses) Moody, and one first round pick … at first blush I think the Nets would want more value.”

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Does this mean that the Nets are not taking offers on Porter? No, but Sean Marks & co. may believe that they can get more for MPJ at the Draft when more teams will have cap space and Porter will be an expiring deal. While Golden State has been the most prominent team mentioned in rumors, the Detroit Pistons, Chicago Bulls and San Antonio Spurs have all been discussed.

As we’ve noted, the Nets go into the trade deadline with enormous flexibility having $15.3 million in cap space, still most in the league, as well as 33 draft picks: 13 firsts, 10 of which are tradeable, and 20 seconds (now that ESPN has reported the Nets are likely to have three seconds.) However, unless forced to, as he was in the trades of the Big Three in 2022 and 2023, Marks has been more active at the draft than the deadline. In nine of the 10 drafts where he’s been GM since taking over in 2016, Marks has made trades within 48 hours of nine of them.

No word on what’s going on with Cam Thomas who along with MPJ and Claxton has been the most-rumored player on the roster ahead of the deadline.