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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

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 S ...

(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 The 2018 NBA Draft was held on June 21, 2018, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. National Basketball Association (NBA) teams took turns selecting amateur United States college basketball players and other eligible players, including inte ...

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 ...

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...

, before transferring to

Nathan Hale High School Nathan Hale High School may refer to: * Nathan Hale High School (Oklahoma), United States * Nathan Hale High School (Washington), United States * Nathan Hale High School (Wisconsin), United States * Nathan Hale-Ray High School, Connecticut ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, 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 Seattle a ...

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%). The ...

. On March 29, 2017, Porter was named MVP at the

McDonald's All-American Game The McDonald's All-American Game is the all-star basketball game played each year for American and Canadian boys' and girls' high school basketball graduates. Consisting of the top players, each team plays a single exhibition game after the concl ...

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 internationa ...

, 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 university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

. 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 Jontay Porter (born November 15, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for the Wisconsin Herd of the NBA G League. He played college basketball for the Missouri Tigers. Porter was previously listed as a recruit under the Class of 20 ...

(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 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 ...

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

Professional career

Denver Nuggets (2018–present)

On June 21, 2018, Porter was selected with the 14th overall pick by the

. 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 The New Orleans Pelicans are an American professional basketball team based in New Orleans. The Pelicans compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division and play their hom ...

. 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 The Indiana Pacers are an American professional basketball team based in Indianapolis. The Pacers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The Pacers were first esta ...

. 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 identif ...

, 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 The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

. On September 27, 2021, Porter and the

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 sele ...

. 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, af ...

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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Playoffs

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2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

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College

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Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

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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. Vegetarianism m ...

. In 2018, he changed his diet to

raw vegan Raw foodism, also known as rawism or a raw food diet, is the dietary practice of eating only or mostly food that is uncooked and unprocessed. Depending on the philosophy, or type of lifestyle and results desired, raw food diets may include ...

. 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 Madison Michelle Pettis (born July 22, 1998) is an American actress. She is known for her roles as Sophie Martinez on the Disney Channel comedy series '' Cory in the House'', as Peyton Kelly in the 2007 film '' The Game Plan'', and as Allie Bro ...

COVID-19 comments

In July 2020, amid the

, Porter stated on

Snapchat Snapchat is an American multimedia instant messaging app and service developed by Snap Inc., originally Snapchat Inc. One of the principal features of Snapchat is that pictures and messages are usually only available for a short time before the ...

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 lea ...

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