This season, Michael Porter Jr. has been putting up some incredible scoring performances. In doing so, he's making the Brooklyn Nets understand just how special of a player he is. And in the end, that's something that Denver Nuggets fans have known for a very long time.
Porter being an exceptional player at the professional level should never have been a surprise if you followed this guy's career progression from high school all the way to now. In fact, you could even go back to middle school.
Michael famously stated that he believes he could have beaten WNBA players one-on-one as a middle schooler. And while that sounds a bit ridiculous at first glance, it's not as crazy if you go back and watch what he was doing in eighth grade. Porter was already a freak athlete, a ridiculous scorer, and was projecting as almost a surefire pro.
It was no surprise that he ended up becoming the top player in his high school class, and he would have almost certainly become the number one pick in the 2018 draft had he not suffered from a back injury and underwent subsequent surgery. Instead, he fell all the way to 14th and ended up in Denver.
Michael Porter Jr. is thriving in Brooklyn
In the grand scheme of things, it's borderline miraculous that he was able to overcome a potentially debilitating injury to begin his career and become a valuable role player who contributed toward winning an NBA championship. But it's also not surprising that with an increased role in Brooklyn, Porter's talent has been shining through, because Nuggets fans know what he's capable of.
Number 17 is averaging a whopping 25.8 points this season with the Nets, by far a career-best, and he's doing it on the same efficient shooting splits he had in Denver. Now that he’s in a situation where he’s featured more prominently, the rest of the league is finally seeing the version of Porter that Denver fans always knew existed.
What Porter is doing this season isn’t a fluke or a lucky heater. It’s the natural evolution of a player who’s always had superstar scoring instincts and is finally in the right situation to show them every night. Brooklyn is benefitting from it now, but Nuggets fans are nodding along, because they’ve seen this coming for years.
The Nuggets didn't really have much choice but to move Porter considering his contract situation. But he'll always carry a piece of Denver with him wherever he goes, and this fanbase has to be happy to see him thriving.