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Michael Lamar Porter Jr. (born June 29, 1998) is an American professional
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...
player for the Denver Nuggets of the
National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...
(NBA). He played
college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...
for the
Missouri Tigers The Missouri Tigers intercollegiate athletics programs represent the University of Missouri, located in Columbia. The name comes from a band of armed Union Home Guards called the Fighting Tigers of Columbia who, in 1864, protected Columbia fro ...
. Porter was ranked as one of the top prospects in the class of 2017. He was selected 14th overall by the Nuggets in the 2018 NBA draft.


High school career

Porter attended
Father Tolton Regional Catholic High School Father Augustine Tolton Regional Catholic High School is the first private, Roman Catholic high school in Columbia, Missouri, built in 2010. It is located in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Jefferson City. The school is named after Missouri nati ...
in Columbia, Missouri, before transferring to Nathan Hale High School in
Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...
, for his senior year. His father, Michael Porter Sr., was hired by the
University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattl ...
to be an assistant coach; former NBA player
Brandon Roy Brandon Dawayne Roy (born July 23, 1984) is an American basketball coach and former player. He serves as the head coach of the boys' basketball team at Garfield High School in Seattle. Roy played six seasons in the National Basketball Associati ...
was the coach of Nathan Hale's basketball team. In Porter's junior season at Father Tolton, he led the team to the 2A State Championship. In the 2016 summer, Porter joined Mokan Elite on the
Nike Elite Youth Basketball League The Nike Elite Youth Basketball League, also known as Nike EYBL, or simply EYBL, is a basketball circuit for teams of players aged 17 and under. The circuit was founded in 2010 and is composed of AAU travel teams. Both boys and girls play in the E ...
(EYBL) averaging 26.2 points and 11.5 rebounds per game leading them to the Nike EYBL Peach Jam championship and was named Co-MVP alongside teammate and future NBA player
Trae Young Rayford Trae Young (born September 19, 1998) is an American professional basketball player for the Atlanta Hawks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Oklahoma Sooners. In 2017, he tied the then-reco ...
. In his senior season, Porter averaged 36.2 points and 13.6 rebounds as he helped his high school team earn a perfect 29–0 record and win the Washington Class 3A State Championship. He recorded 52 points and 23 rebounds in a blowout victory over Seattle Prep on senior night. Porter was rated as a five-star recruit and ranked as one of the top overall recruits in his class by
Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...
and
ESPN ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). Th ...
. On March 29, 2017, Porter was named MVP at the McDonald's All-American Game leading the West in a 109–107 win over the East team. Porter also participated in the 2017
Nike Hoop Summit The Nike Hoop Summit is an international men's basketball all-star game sponsored by Nike, held once a year since 1995, except from 2001–2003, which features the USA Basketball Men's Junior Select Team against a World Select Team of international ...
, leading Team USA to a 98–87 victory over the World Select Team with 19 points in 23 minutes of play.


College career

In July 2016, Porter originally committed to Washington. After
Lorenzo Romar Lorenzo Romar (born November 13, 1958) is an American basketball coach and former player. He is the head men's basketball coach at Pepperdine University, a position he held from 1996 to 1999 and resumed in 2018. Romar also served as the head me ...
was fired as Washington's head coach, Porter Sr. was hired as an assistant coach for the
University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus University of Missouri System. MU was founded in ...
. Porter Jr. later decommitted from Washington. On March 24, 2017, Porter committed to play for Missouri, joining his father and his younger brother, Jontay Porter (who reclassified from the class of 2018). Porter was injured in the first half of the season opener against Iowa State. Porter was expected to miss the remainder of the 2017–18 season because of a lower back injury which required surgery. On November 22, 2017, Porter had a successful microdiscectomy of his L3-L4 spinal discs. On February 22, 2018, Porter Jr. was cleared to practice with Missouri again, with the potential to return to play before the end of the season. NBA executives were encouraging him to play if he was feeling healthy enough to do so. Porter would officially return to action on March 8, 2018 in the quarterfinals of the
SEC tournament The Southeastern Conference (SEC) sponsors nine men's sports and twelve women's sports. This is a list of conference champions for each sport. Also see the list of SEC national champions. Members The SEC was established on December 1932, when t ...
. Porter would also play in the first round of the 2018 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament, where the team lost to
Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...
. In both games, however, Porter came off of the bench to play instead of starting as he had on opening night, mainly as a precaution. On March 27, Porter announced his intention to forgo his final three seasons of collegiate eligibility and declared for the 2018 NBA draft.


Professional career


Denver Nuggets (2018–present)

On June 21, 2018, Porter was selected with the 14th overall pick by the Denver Nuggets. He fell from a possible first overall pick to the 14th pick with the Nuggets due to reports regarding his health. The Nuggets also discussed the possibility of having him sit out for his entire first season in the NBA in relation to his back problems. On July 3, 2018, Porter signed a multi-year contract with the Nuggets. On July 19, 2018, the Nuggets announced that Porter had undergone a second back surgery. On October 31, 2019, Porter made his debut in NBA, coming off the bench with fifteen points, four rebounds and an assist in a 107–122 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. On December 29, Porter made his first career start in the NBA, finishing with 19 points, along with six rebounds and an assist in 26 minutes in a 120–115 win over the
Sacramento Kings The Sacramento Kings are an American professional basketball team based in Sacramento, California. The Kings compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Western Conference Pacific Division. The Kings are the oldest ...
. He set a new career high with 25 points in 23 minutes just four days later in a win against the Indiana Pacers. On August 4, 2020, returning from the suspension of the season due to the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, Porter Jr. led the Nuggets to their first victory in the Orlando bubble, scoring a then career-high 37 points in route to a 121–113 overtime win over
Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team plays i ...
. On April 24, 2021, Porter scored a career-high 39 points in a 129–116 win over the Houston Rockets. On September 27, 2021, Porter and the Denver Nuggets agreed to a 5-year, $172 million rookie extension that will become $207 million if Porter is selected to an
All-NBA Team The All-NBA Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor bestowed on the best players in the league following every NBA season. The voting is conducted by a global panel of sportswriters and broadcasters. The team has been sel ...
. On November 29, 2021, having appeared in only 9 games, Porter's agent Mark Bartelstein announced Porter would miss the remainder of the
2021–22 NBA season The 2021–22 NBA season was the 76th season of the National Basketball Association (NBA). The NBA returned to a full 82-game regular season in its normal mid-October to mid-April schedule for the first time since the 2018–19 NBA season, aft ...
as he would be undergoing a third back surgery.


Career statistics


NBA


Regular season

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Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
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Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
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Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, 9 , , 9 , , 29.4 , , .359 , , .208 , , .556 , , 6.6, , 1.9, , 1.1 , , .2 , , 9.9 , - class="sortbottom" , colspan=2 style="text-align:center", Career , 125 , , 71 , , 24.6 , , .518 , , .419 , , .795 , , 6.1 , , 1.1 , , .6 , , .6 , , 14.1


Playoffs

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2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...
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Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
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Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...
, 10 , , 10 , , 33.2 , , .474 , , .397 , , .810 , , 6.2 , , 1.3 , , 1.1 , , .3 , , 17.4 , - class="sortbottom" , colspan=2 style="text-align:center", Career , 29 , , 13 , , 27.0 , , .475 , , .389 , , .768 , , 6.5 , , 1.0 , , .8 , , .3 , , 13.4


College

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Missouri Missouri is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee): Iowa to the north, Illinois, Kentucky and Tennessee to the east, Arkansas t ...
, 3 , , 1 , , 17.7 , , .333 , , .300 , , .778 , , 6.7 , , .3 , , 1.0 , , .3 , , 10.0


Personal life

Porter is a Christian and grew up as a
vegetarian Vegetarianism is the practice of abstaining from the consumption of meat (red meat, poultry, seafood, insects, and the flesh of any other animal). It may also include abstaining from eating all by-products of animal slaughter. Vegetariani ...
. In 2018, he changed his diet to raw vegan. In addition to younger brother Jontay, he has two older sisters named Bri and Cierra, along with 4 younger siblings. In 2017, Porter dated actress and model Madison Pettis.


COVID-19 comments

In July 2020, amid the
COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
, Porter stated on Snapchat that he believed the disease was "being used obviously for a bigger agenda... for population control in just terms of being able to control the masses of people. I mean, because of the virus the whole world is being controlled." He added, "you're required to wear masks... and who knows what will happen when this vaccine comes out? You might have to have the vaccine in order to travel. Like, that would be crazy." These remarks led to Porter being reprimanded by Snapchat, with the post being deleted for violating the app's content guidelines. NBA commissioner
Adam Silver Adam Silver (born April 25, 1962) is an American lawyer and sports executive who serves as the fifth and current commissioner of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He joined the NBA in 1992 and has held various positions within the l ...
also commented on the subject, saying "It's unfortunate that he said that. I would only say in our league, we have 450 players, guys are young. They're occasionally going to say silly things. I think most people quickly dismissed that comment." Nuggets coach Mike Malone let it be known that they would not "muzzle" their players and they would "just try to educate guys so that they understand the impact of what they may be saying."


References


External links

* Career statistics and player information fro
NBA.comMissouri Tigers bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Porter, Michael Jr. 1998 births Living people African-American basketball players American men's basketball players Basketball players from Missouri Basketball players from Seattle Denver Nuggets draft picks Denver Nuggets players McDonald's High School All-Americans Missouri Tigers men's basketball players Small forwards Sportspeople from Columbia, Missouri 21st-century African-American sportspeople