Michael Porter Jr. felt strangely at home, probably because he was. The Brooklyn Nets were staying at the Four Seasons, where he still has an apartment. Last summer, as Porter tells it, he bumped into former Nuggets front office assistant Jon Wallace at the hotel bar. They got to talking. Porter hadn’t been checking social media lately. He learned Wallace was back in Denver because the Nuggets had just hired him to be their new co-general manager. Conversation wandered to the future of the roster.
Porter’s downtown Denver residence is currently staged to be sold. There’s a finality to that — to the realization on Wednesday that while he was home, he wasn’t able to sleep in his own bed. He stayed in a hotel room instead. He walked down the same hallway as usual on Thursday at Ball Arena, but he didn’t turn right at the door to the home locker room. He kept walking through the next set of double doors, into the visitors’ smaller space.
A few days after that conversation with Wallace, Porter found out the Nuggets were trading him to Brooklyn while he was on a flight to Europe. Seven months later, the shock had finally worn off, but not the deja vu, as he returned to Denver as an opponent for the first time.
“I appreciate the city of Denver,” he said. “It’s an underrated city. You actually can see the sky and breathe fresh air. New York’s different.”
On a night when he received a standing ovation and then scored 38 points for the Nets in a 107-103 loss, an introspective Porter reflected on his Nuggets legacy and the blockbuster trade that ended his seven-year run with the franchise that drafted him. He’s on the verge of his first career All-Star anointment, yet Nuggets coach David Adelman said earlier this month that he felt the trade has turned out well for all involved — for the Nuggets and the Nets, for Porter and Cam Johnson.
‘It kind of worked out for everybody’
Michael Porter Jr. (17) of the Brooklyn Nets finishes a fast break over Jamal Murray (27) of the Denver Nuggets during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets' 107-103 win at Ball Arena in Denver on Thursday. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Michael Porter Jr. (17) of the Brooklyn Nets finishes a fast break over Jamal Murray (27) of the Denver Nuggets during the fourth quarter of the Nuggets’ 107-103 win at Ball Arena in Denver on Thursday. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
MPJ offered his own candid and similar assessment, a few months removed from the deal.
“I don’t look back at it with any saltiness toward the organization or anything. I think they got a lot out of trading me,” Porter said. “They got not only Cam, but (Jonas) Valanciunas, Bruce (Brown), Tim Hardaway, who’s playing amazing. … I think it’s cool. And I still keep up with them. They’ve been able to stay afloat when Joker is out, AG (Aaron Gordon) is out, CB (Christian Braun) is out. And I don’t know with our roster last year, if some of those guys went down, if it would have been the same. So it probably is one of those unique trades where it kind of worked out for everybody.”
Him included, despite the significant decline in wins. By the end of last season, Porter felt antsy. Like he had plateaued. An over-qualified spot-up shooter in Denver, he wanted to explore the next stage of his NBA development. He had signaled as much to Wallace in their conversation last summer before the trade. Not that it was a big secret.
“I don’t want to take for granted (having played) winning basketball, like I had here, and a chance to win a championship every year. But I think it was just time for a change of scenery for me,” Porter explained. “Like, I loved my time here in Denver, but it’s all I knew. And now it’s something completely different. And it’s a new challenge for me, and I think that’s pretty cool.”
On the other side of the trade, Johnson coveted another taste of playoff basketball after three consecutive summers on the couch. He was prepared to scale back his individual game a bit if a new environment demanded it. The role reversal was timely for both. They even met up on Wednesday to break it down, recording an episode of Johnson’s podcast “The Old Man and the Three” that’s yet to be released.
Porter continues to thrive as a primary scoring option for the lottery-bound Nets. He’s averaging an efficient 25.2 points per game, though he remained self-aware about the context separating Brooklyn and Denver, where he played alongside Nikola Jokic. “Some of the shots that I shoot (now) and they need me to take are different,” he said, setting up a punch line. “In Denver, those aren’t necessarily the best shots, because we can work for probably a wide-open shot. Instead of a contested, fade-away 3 over two people.”
‘He’s an all-time Nugget’
Michael Porter Jr. (1) of the Denver Nuggets moments after sinking a 3-point basket against the Miami Heat in the third quarter during Game 5 of the NBA Finals at Ball Arena June 12, 2023. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
Michael Porter Jr. (1) of the Denver Nuggets moments after sinking a 3-point basket against the Miami Heat in the third quarter during Game 5 of the NBA Finals at Ball Arena June 12, 2023. (Photo by Andy Cross/The Denver Post)
The denouement of Denver’s tribute video that played for Porter in the first quarter on Thursday contained the closure he needed to feel ready for a change. He was welcomed back to Ball Arena by images of a championship celebration in the same building. A champagne-soaked interview in the locker room. A bear hug with Jamal Murray. An overjoyed laugh. Porter finished his time in Denver ranked second in franchise history with 843 made 3-pointers and first in effective field goal percentage (59.9%), but the title-clinching NBA Finals Game 5 might be the defining memory of him in a Nuggets uniform.
He went for 16 points and 13 rebounds that night in 2023. It was a culmination of his early career arc, which he didn’t allow to be defined by three back surgeries. In Adelman’s words: “He’s an all-time Nugget.”
“That’s pretty cool to be considered that. I think it’s just amazing to have won the first (NBA) championship that the city has had, and to be a part of that,” Porter responded. “They were just starting to win when I got in the NBA, and then we got better and better. … I was just here for the whole process. And it’s cool that we were able to finish that time out with a championship. Because I feel like if I didn’t get that ring or finish my time here with a ring, then it would have been hard to move into the situation I’m in now. But I think the fact that we were able to reach that goal (is meaningful), even though I felt like if I had been healthy last year, and even that Minnesota Timberwolves series the year before, we could have had two, maybe three.
“But we got one, and that’s a lot more than a lot of people can say.”
As the Nuggets chase two, Porter remains a fan. He obtained a court-side ticket to watch them play in New Orleans earlier this month after the Nets arrived for a game the next day. He has stayed in touch with Peyton Watson during the young forward’s breakout season in Denver. He embraced Jokic as the two warmed up at opposite ends of the court Thursday.
For an evening, they were enemies. Porter and Murray hunted each other on switches throughout the game. Murray had promised to reporters two nights earlier that he planned to “give him buckets” when asked about Porter. He got the last laugh, willing Denver to victory late in the fourth quarter. Trash talk was exchanged.
“All in good fun. I don’t even know what we were talking about,” Porter said. “I think I told him he was lucky that I missed that shot (over him).”
“He’s always super-aggressive, but like, reading the blitzes and double-teams, he’s gotten better. And he’s seeing it more often,” Murray said. “Just everything. He’s such a great shooter. He still makes the same shots that he’s always made. So, tough cover. But it definitely helps knowing him and knowing his game to defend him. If you don’t know Mike at all and you’re playing against him, he’s gonna light you up.”
Then Murray glanced at the box score print-out in front of him. He stopped himself mid-sentence to poke fun at Porter’s shot volume.
“So I think our advantage is just — 28 shots is insane. I just saw that. Twenty-eight is insane.”
That was the most revealing number of the night. It was a career-high for Porter. He never attempted more than 23 in a Nuggets uniform. He wanted to show them what he looks like at full power, not as a third option. “I wanted to get that win, get the season sweep against these dudes,” MPJ said afterward.
Across seven years in Denver, he took 5,046 total shots, counting the playoffs. He has two favorites: a pull-up 3-pointer in the 2023 clincher against Miami, and a game-tying 3 with a minute to go in Game 2 of a 2024 series against the Lakers. That was the night that ended in a dogpile around Murray, who drilled a game-winning buzzer beater over Anthony Davis.
Porter’s moment was equally essential, yet more peripheral. He knew how to live with that.
“Denver was like the last place on my mind I would get drafted,” he said, “but it was the perfect place for me.”
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