Michael Porter Jr., F
Not much sounds better for executive vice president of basketball operations and former Denver Nuggets general manager Arturas Karnisovas than being able to land a player he drafted in the past by way of a valued trade. Karnisovas selected the potent 6-foot-10 and 220 pound former Mizzou Tigers forward Michael Porter Jr. in the last spot in the draft lottery in 2018.
Really all that stands in the way of MPJ and reaching true stardom in the NBA is that nagging injury bug. He can’t seem to go for more than a few months at a time without experiencing another injury issue. That’s just the unfortunate story for the former top-ranked high school prospect in the nation since his days at Mizzou.
Although, the promising sign moving forward for MPJ is that he’s played in a career-high 58 games this season. And the Nuggets have reaped the rewards of having a healthy version of him in the rotation.
In his 58 games played with the Nuggets this season, MPJ averaged an impressive 19.2 points per game, 7.4 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.9 blocks. And he’s shot 54.5 percent from the field, 44.6 percent from beyond the arc, and 78.8 percent from the free-throw line.
The efficiency is absolutely off the charts for MPJ in the last two seasons, at least when he was healthy. His box plus/minus rating is up above 3.0, and true shooting percentage is above 66.0, for the first time in his career.
If for any reason, the Nuggets do decide to part ways with MPJ in the near future, it’s hard to believe that Karnisovas wouldn’t be one of the first executives calling to see what it would take to trade for him.