While he would love to see his former teammates celebrating again, the current Nets star admitted that he will feel bitterness for not being a part of another Denver title win.
Michael Porter Jr. is blunt enough to admit that he will have mixed emotions if the Denver Nuggets eventually win it all this 2025-26 NBA season.
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While he would be ecstatic about seeing his former teammates making it back to the mountaintop, the current Brooklyn Nets star also admitted that he would feel bitterness for not being a part of their title rally.
“I’d love it, and hate it, if Denver won. I’d love it because those are my friends. But I’d hate it because that means they got better without me," Porter Jr. said while smiling in his appearance on The Emily Austin Show. "I’m like a toxic ex.
"I would love it for all my individual teammates, but selfishly, that human nature part of me is like, dang, they shipped me off and then they got better and won a championship."
Porter Jr. played an important role in the Nuggets' first-ever NBA title last 2022-23 season. Throughout the team's 20 playoff games leading to the championship, he averaged 13.4 points and 8.1 rebounds in 32.7 minutes.
But as the Nuggets came up short in making it back to the title stage in the next two seasons, Porter Jr. found himself being dealt in the past offseason. He was sent to the Brooklyn Nets for Cam Johnson and a future first-round pick.
The trade allowed the Nuggets to create significant cap space and obtain key contributors from Tim Hardaway Jr., Bruce Brown and Jonas Valanciunas.
But despite having conflicted thoughts, Porter Jr. remains bullish about the Nuggets' chances this year, especially if healthy.
The Nuggets have battled injuries all season long, but they remained competitive as one of the top teams in the league, led by three-time MVP Nikola Jokic.
"I'm going to say my prediction is that if everyone gets healthy on the Nuggets — Peyton Watson broke out this year and Aaron Gordon is a difference maker — once they get healthy for the playoffs, it's going to be really, really hard to beat them in seven games," Porter Jr. claimed.
"I'm going to go with Denver."
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