Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. has been dominating the headlines lately, and he took some time to answer fan questions on his Curious Mike show. While he didn't touch on the controversial topics, he did speak about what he wasn't prepared for, good or bad, that comes with the NBA lifestyle.
"People might not believe me on this, but I never played basketball with the thought of one day I'll be playing for a lot of money," Porter said. "I always just played 'cause I loved it and I wanted to be the best. So, I had no even concept of what it would be like to have money and to be able to take care of my family and to like be able to do things I wanted to do.
"I didn't know what it would be like to be able to go to dinner and spend $250, $300 on a bill, and that would be okay," Porter continued. "... That wasn't even a concept in my head that I would have money to do stuff with."
Porter also claimed that his family was basically broke when he was growing up. His father made $30,000 a year, but he had a wife and 10 children to take care of.
Porter praised his parents for never making the children feel like they were short on funds. Once he got his first few paychecks in the NBA, he realized he could easily take care of them, and that proved to be a pleasant surprise. As for the unpleasant one, it was loneliness.
“Something that’s kind of a bad thing that I didn’t really prepare for was kind of the loneliness you feel a little bit,” Porter stated. “Just through the process of the season. All the traveling, all the nights in the hotel alone ... It is isolating. You do feel very isolated, especially probably when you don’t have a significant other, and you don’t have somebody who’s traveling with you on the road.”
You can have all the money in the world, but it doesn't solve a problem like loneliness. Porter later revealed that he doesn't have a lot of friends. The 27-year-old was homeschooled, so he didn't get to make a lot of relationships when he was growing up.
Porter couldn't lean on his former Denver Nuggets teammates for company when he entered the NBA either. He missed his entire rookie season due to injuries and was away from the rest of the team more often than not. All of this certainly wasn't ideal.
Porter has managed to put that issue to the side when he has stepped out on the court over the years. He averaged 18.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.5 blocks per game for the Nuggets in 2024-25 and is now starting a new journey with the Nets.
Through Porter's own fault, though, his potential impact on the court for the Nets hasn't been the biggest talking point. It's instead been all about controversies, with him most recently revealing he shows Andrew Tate's clips to women as a test.
The homeschooled Porter also took a jab at public schools and isn't doing his reputation any favors with all of this. Former NBA player Evan Turner also compared him to Kanye West, and more might follow if he keeps this up.
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