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Michael Porter Jr. has suffered a minor setback in his rehab from back surgery.

Porter underwent surgery on December 1st, which was the third of his career.

The setback stemmed from overcompensation and overwork amid his rehab, according to a source.

The Denver Nuggets have yet to determine whether Porter will be shut down for the remainder of the season.

Porter's agent, Mark Bartelstein, expressed optimism in late February that he would return in March. 

Via Mike Singer/Denver Post

That decision to max Porter out early for no reason will ensure that Denver wastes Jokic’s prime.

Best decision by MPJ to be able to put himself in a position to nab a max contract.

But questionable decision for Denver to Max out MPJ -- particularly when he has had significant injury history and was the 3rd option after MVP Jokic & All Star Murray.

Hopefully MPJ gets healthy and can return to form.

There was red flags on this guy that Denver refuses to acknowledge as he has a debilitating disk in his back that will be deteriorating as he ages, yet they signed him to a max contract. That's like hitting a lottery for a few good games played, Tim Connelly who signed him to that contract should be fired for wasting capspace and potentially ruining Jokers prime years.

NBA is not like amateur sports.
I do not want to compare my life to that of a professional athlete.
But I had a back operation with 40. I will be 50 in 2 months and carry 4 screws and two pieces of metal, together with some kind of concrete between my L4-L5 vertebrae.
I am able to practice daily if work and family let me.
Being that young and with all the professional team around, he will be able to play again. But the body needs time to adjust to the changes.

With a handful of games remaining why is Denver or his team pushing for his return this season. Seems like a recipe for a disaster.

The prudent move is to shut him down and start fresh next season

say goodbye to him and the money you gave him denver. None of it will be back. no pun intended

Years90Suns wrote:NBA is not like amateur sports.
I do not want to compare my life to that of a professional athlete.
But I had a back operation with 40. I will be 50 in 2 months and carry 4 screws and two pieces of metal, together with some kind of concrete between my L4-L5 vertebrae.
I am able to practice daily if work and family let me.
Being that young and with all the professional team around, he will be able to play again. But the body needs time to adjust to the changes.

yea you are way off on this. There is a MASSIVE difference between having one fusion surgery (like you had) and several disketomies (like MPJ has had).

I am a much better example than you. I was an avid basketball player (3 hours per day, 6-7 days per week) and had 3 disketomies between ages 26-30. After my 3rd one the doctor told me I could never play basketball or even run/jump ever again.

The multiple surgeries led to scar tissue (something I'm sure MPJ is dealing with), the scar tissue rubs up against the nerve, the disk becomes more and more weak after each disketomy.

20+ years since then and I've had 5 more back surgeries, all disketomies.

As I've been saying here since before he was drafted, MPJ is a walking time bomb and will never have a long career. I said back then he might make it a year or two but eventually his disk will leak again and he will need more surgeries. So far I've benn 100% correct with every prediction I've made about MPJ.

He is completely screwed and will never have a productive career. If he comes back and tries to play he will definitely end up right back here again in the near future.

niha17 wrote:say goodbye to him and the money you gave him denver. None of it will be back. no pun intended

Such a rough spot to be in while they have a perennial MVP in his prime. At the same time, they wouldn't have had cap-space even if they hadn't given him an extension. Hopefully he can come back and play a limited role.

Such a great, yet sad, example of teams needing to just go for it while they are in a good position. Not saying the Nuggets didn't do that, they made the move to get Gordon, but last year could have very well been their best shot at winning a championship until Murray got hurt.

Crazy they gave him a guaranteed $150+ million contract

WindyCityBorn wrote:That decision to max Porter out early for no reason will ensure that Denver wastes Jokic’s prime.

Yeah, I never understood why you'd go early max on this guy. I'd have been exploring the trade market hard and hoping to sell high.