The potential was always there and Michael Porter Jr. is finally showing everyone how good he can be.

The 27-year-old forward was expected to be among the first players selected in the 2018 NBA Draft before (extremely valid) health concerns pushed him down to the Denver Nuggets at 14th overall.

Between that draft and his last season with the Nuggets in 2025, Porter emerged as a top role player in the NBA. He averaged 16.2 points per game on 50% field goal shooting–including 2.4 threes per game on a 40.6% clip–across 345 games played across six years for Denver.

While Porter did turn into a useful role player and helped Denver win the NBA championship in 2023, many still wondered if he could still become the pure scorer that everyone believed that he could become when he first entered the league’s radar.

Those lingering questions were finally set to be answered when the Nuggets decided to trade Porter to the Brooklyn Nets last July for another forward, Cam Johnson.

Now the lead player for the rebuilding Nets, Porter has finally been unleashed. 

The 6’10 forward is averaging career-highs across the board through his first 31 appearances this year with 25.7 points, 7.5 rebounds, 3.3 assists (!!!), and one steal. What’s interesting about this stretch of his is that he is taking more shots this season (18.7) versus last year (13.6) with the Nuggets, yet his true shooting has actually improved slightly from 61.7% to 62.3%. He has done all of this despite his colorful injury history which makes all that he has done even more impressive. 

The strong play of Porter has now put him on several aspiring contenders’ radars heading into next month’s trade deadline. This is an ideal situation for Brooklyn and their rebuild as they can likely deal away Porter “at a profit” given how well he has played this season. He is currently being linked to the Golden State Warriors, Detroit Pistons, and Memphis Grizzlies, though no deal seems imminent at the moment.

For whatever its worth, Porter has proven over these past months that he can truly score with the best of them when given the right opportunity. Whether he can do this on a contender remains to be seen, but for the time being, what he is doing with these Nets is already one of the most intriguing stories of this NBA season.