The Nuggets came into this season thinking that Michael Porter Jr. might finally be ready to take a leap toward stardom. There was hope that he was going to unlock his overall offensive game, become a true second-option next to Nikola Jokic, playmake for others, and be a consistent scorer.
Denver’s front office certainly had that idea in mind when they gave MPJ a max rookie-scale extension of five years, $179 million back in 2021. That deal has him making over $35 million this season, over $38 million next season, and over $40 million in the 2026-27 season. That’s the kind of money teams dish out for star-level talent and production.
But so far, Mike hasn’t lived up to his end of the bargain. He has been durable and solid, but that’s about it. They can’t complain too much about the money, as he played a major role in helping the team win the championship in 2023.
However, since then, Porter Jr.’s progress has stagnated, and now, almost 27 years old, he is still an inconsistent role player who can shoot and space the floor, but doesn’t offer much more than that.
MPJ teetering on the brink of unplayable against Thunder
So far, the 2025 playoffs have been a microcosm of MPJ’s career; inconsistent, unreliable, and overall, somewhat disappointing. Sure, we must mention the devastating shoulder injury he suffered at the end of Game 2 against the Clippers, but that doesn’t excuse his disastrous no-show in Game 1 of that series.
He deserves a lot of credit for playing through the injury, and he clearly isn’t close to 100%, but that doesn’t excuse his awful defense, lack of energy, and his tendency to disappear from games. We’ve seen him make shots since the injury, yet he has now had several duds, including a brutal one in Game 1 against the Thunder.
Porter Jr. had just 2 points and 4 rebounds on Monday night, shooting a woeful 1/8 from the field and 0/3 on three-pointers. He was a team-worst -15 in a game the team won, and he was eventually benched after just 24 minutes as David Adelman rightfully chose to roll with Russell Westbrook down the stretch.
Porter Jr. risks benching, or worse
Mike may as well have had a target on his back in Game 1, destroying his team on both ends, and if he doesn’t pick up his play, things are only going to get worse. The Thunder will target him relentlessly on the defensive end of the floor, and they’ll dare the Nuggets to bring him into action on offense.
If he’s not helping the team, Adelman is going to have to quickly pull the plug and lean on his bench more than usual. It’s certainly not an ideal scenario, but MPJ is giving the team no choice, and they can’t afford to let him play himself into the games in a series of this magnitude.
And if this doesn’t turn around, it raises serious questions about MPJ’s future. It’s no secret that changes to the roster are coming this offseason. The Nuggets need to refigure some things and fix some of Calvin Booth’s mistakes. Sadly, that may very well mean getting off Porter Jr.’s eyesore of a contract in exchange for depth.
It has been a talking point for years, but things have never been this bad for MPJ or the team’s depth. It would be a sad way for Porter Jr.’s Nuggets career to come to an end, but at this point, it doesn’t seem like an unlikely scenario.