Michael Porter Jr. said that the Los Angeles Clippers passed on selecting him in the 2018 NBA Draft because the team doctor thought he would never return to the court due to his back injury.
"Their doctor was the one that wrote the report on me. I think he wrote some stuff like he thought that I would never play basketball again so I didn't think they'd pick me," said Porter.
Porter underwent a microdiscectomy of his L3-L4 spinal disks in November of 2017, then had another spinal surgery in July 2018.
The Clippers had the 12th and 13th pick in the draft. They traded the 12th pick for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, then selected Jerome Robinson at 13.
Porter went 14th to the Nuggets.
Doc Rivers said that Porter's medical record was too much of a red flag.
"It was brutal for us. We had on our board, just the medical report, the red flag was so hot.
"We got the one guy we wanted in [Gilgeous-Alexander]. And the second pick, when he was on the board, it was a brutal pass because everyone in the room knew his talent but it was more the injury concern. That was the only other concern."
