Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. says he’s “definitely playing” on Friday against Portland, per Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports (Twitter links).
Oddly, head coach Michael Malone spoke to the media before Porter, and he said the 24-year-old’s status for Friday was still up in the air and indicated that he would have a minutes restriction when he does play. According to Wind, Porter then followed Malone and stated that he was playing and didn’t think there would be any restrictions, so evidently there was a miscommunication between the coach and player.
Porter has been sidelined since Nov. 22 while dealing with a left heel strain, missing the past 13 games with the injury. He downplayed the severity of the injury despite missing a month of action.
“For me, if it’s not related to my back, I’m not too worried about it…this is something that’s unrelated to my back,” Porter said (Twitter link via Wind).
Porter, who played just nine games last season after undergoing his third back surgery since college, is averaging 16.4 points and 6.0 rebounds on .466/.427/.800 shooting through 16 games (29.1 minutes per contest). He’s officially listed as questionable for Friday night, as is guard Jamal Murray (left knee injury management), tweets Wind.
After defeating Memphis on Tuesday, the Nuggets have recaptured the top seed in the West, currently sitting with a 19-11 record through 30 games.
5 th yr in NBA. Has played a total of 141 gms. He’s avg 25 mins a gm for his career. That’s 141 out of possible 350 gms. And he’s making 31 mill to sit and heal this yr. He’s owed 135 mill for next 4 yrs. And the haters cry about Fournier and Westbrook ……
He is all world potential. Nuggets are getting it together too. The Joker is such a joy to watch. They should be right there at the WCF. Would love for them to get Caruso from the Bulls.
Don’t see the all world potential
He’s not very efficient and the defense is nothing to write home about
MPJ has two elite skills, shooting and rebounding, but is well below par in everything else. If the everything else doesn’t always show up prominently in the box score or in 2k ratings, it certainly shows up in the W/L column. Since he still has his fans in some FO’s around the league, and he’s now relatively healthy, DEN would do well to cease any opportunity to move him before those change. Not sure what would be there.