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Michael Porter Jr. is dealing with a nerve issue in his back that could force him to miss the entire 21-22 season. Porter could undergo another back surgery to address the issue. Porter has already had two back surgeries. 

The Denver Nuggets have so far been vague about the injury and when he might be back. The Nuggets have given Porter a timeline of a week to show improvements before considering other options. 

Porter exacerbated a back injury he's had all season after botching a layup attempt on November 6th and hasn't played since.

Porter has since been getting daily treatments to strengthen the area of the injury.  

After signing a five-year max contract with $145 million in guaranteed money, Porter struggled to begin the season. Porter attributed the struggles, at least in part, due to his back.

Via Mike Singer/Denver Post

Glad this dude was able to secure the bag before the back issue totally derailed his career bro. Kudos bro.

Ouch, I feel bad for him and for the team. Even if he misses the year, hopefully he can be back healthy (ish) next season...

FML. I can never have nice things.

Brandon Roy 2.0 - unbelievable skill and potential to be a legend but had the body health of a 65 year old.

they are only paying him $5M this year. I'm sure Nuggets would be fine for him to sit the entire season, considering they would prefer to increase to chance of having a healthy player whom they will pay $30M next year.

donemilio21 wrote:they are only paying him $5M this year. I'm sure Nuggets would be fine for him to sit the entire season, considering they would prefer to increase to chance of having a healthy player whom they will pay $30M next year.

He’s done. This will be an issue for his entire career however ling that is. Nuggets are idiots for giving him that contract before they had to.

WindyCityBorn wrote:

donemilio21 wrote:they are only paying him $5M this year. I'm sure Nuggets would be fine for him to sit the entire season, considering they would prefer to increase to chance of having a healthy player whom they will pay $30M next year.

He’s done. This will be an issue for his entire career however ling that is. Nuggets are idiots for giving him that contract before they had to.

There's a good chance this goes down as the worst contract in NBA history in 5-6 years from now. AND they gave it to him a year before they had to. He was borderline max at best anyway so why give a 5 year max contract to him early? Someones going to get fired for this for sure.

Andrew Wiggins looking good right about now. At least the dude plays games.

gswhoop wrote:Andrew Wiggins looking good right about now. At least the dude plays games.

You act like they passed on Wiggins for Porter. Wiggins is a solid player, just not a star.

RipCityKJ wrote:Brandon Roy 2.0 - unbelievable skill and potential to be a legend but had the body health of a 65 year old.

Don't compare him to Roy... that ain't right!

luciano-davidwesley wrote:

WindyCityBorn wrote:

donemilio21 wrote:they are only paying him $5M this year. I'm sure Nuggets would be fine for him to sit the entire season, considering they would prefer to increase to chance of having a healthy player whom they will pay $30M next year.

He’s done. This will be an issue for his entire career however ling that is. Nuggets are idiots for giving him that contract before they had to.

There's a good chance this goes down as the worst contract in NBA history in 5-6 years from now. AND they gave it to him a year before they had to. He was borderline max at best anyway so why give a 5 year max contract to him early? Someones going to get fired for this for sure.

Horrible contract even if he was completely healthy.

There was a reason why he slipped in the draft

Pickled Prunes wrote:

RipCityKJ wrote:Brandon Roy 2.0 - unbelievable skill and potential to be a legend but had the body health of a 65 year old.

Don't compare him to Roy... that ain't right!

The funny thing about this is I'm not sure if you think this is insulting to Roy or MPj.

I was super against drafting Porter for this exact situation, that he would be good enough that you have to pay him but unhealthy enough that he completely screwed up your team after paying him.

Denver exacerbated this situation by paying him the full max on an early extension. What a horrifically stupid decision. Either get a significant discount (and point to Embiid as an example) or wait until he's an RFA and make him prove he can stay on the court. Denver did neither, and who knows how this will work out for them going forward.

Not being a Denver fan, it doesn't really matter to me, but this isn't a tough break for them, this is them doing stupid things and paying the consequences. Congratulations to Michael Porter's agent for pulling off this coup of a contract signing for his client. It'd be sad for anyone to suffer significant back problems at such a young age (my daughter had a full spinal fusion at 12, so I am truly sympathetic), but I'd sure rather have secured generational wealth prior to my back problems forcing me into a bad spot.

Given his injury history, how did Denver structure his contract? I can understand why they swung hard on this kid, the smaller market teams w/o a traditional "Big 3" collection of super stars have to get their star talent through the draft and keep them. However, it's only in pro sports where someone can get 100% of their contract if they never play another day after injury, the NBA needs to fix this.

Nuggets take the L on this. he had back issues and you foolishly gave him a max deal. Bad for 2 reasons. First hes not even close to being a max player. Hes overrated. Second is he has the injured back. Now it flared up when hes making 5 mill OK byt next season hes at 29. The nuggets tried to lock him up longterm. But with the history of his back the never should have gave him the contract before the old contract ended. This contract is as untradable as john wall. Nuggets are beyond stupid for this one

niha17 wrote:Nuggets take the L on this. he had back issues and you foolishly gave him a max deal. Bad for 2 reasons. First hes not even close to being a max player. Hes overrated. Second is he has the injured back. Now it flared up when hes making 5 mill OK byt next season hes at 29. The nuggets tried to lock him up longterm. But with the history of his back the never should have gave him the contract before the old contract ended. This contract is as untradable as john wall. Nuggets are beyond stupid for this one

Agreed. No reason to give him a max contract. I would have let him become an RFA and then match whatever offer he received. Then, after that contract, if he proved he was a max player then go ahead and offer it to him. He has great potential, if he can stay healthy, but that's a big IF based on his history.

dougthonus wrote:

Pickled Prunes wrote:

RipCityKJ wrote:Brandon Roy 2.0 - unbelievable skill and potential to be a legend but had the body health of a 65 year old.

Don't compare him to Roy... that ain't right!

The funny thing about this is I'm not sure if you think this is insulting to Roy or MPj.

All these accolades belong to either Roy or Porter... I'll let you guess which.

Western Conference All-Star in his 2nd, 3rd and 4th seasons
All-NBA Second Team - 2009
All-NBA Third Team - 2010
Player Of The Week - 12/09/2007, 12/16/2007, 12/01/2008, 4/13/2009, 3/15/2010
Rookie Of The Year - 2007
All-Rookie First Team - 2007
Rookie Of The Month - Jan. 2007, Feb. 2007, Mar. 2007
PBWA Magic Johnson Award - 2009

If Roy had cartilage in his knees he would be HOF bound. MPJ... I don't think so. A better comp might be Gallinari.