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There's been a lot of buzz around the basketball world whether Michael Porter Jr. should come back and play or whether he should just skip the NCAA tournament. Per ESPN's Jeff Goodman, NBA insiders say that if he plays, he should come back in hopes of improving his draft stock.
Porter suffered a back injury on November 10th that required surgery, and he hasn't returned to the court since. He was cleared last week for full practices but hasn't been given the go signal for games just yet.
One scout thinks if he's healthy, he should play because it really could only help his game:
Article Continues Below“If he's healthy, he's not going to slide down too much even if he doesn't play well, Everyone's seen him. And if he plays well, I think he could move all the way up to the second spot in the draft.”
Coming into the college basketball season, many believed Porter would be the number one overall pick, but this back injury seems to have scouts and NBA teams worried if it's going to be a constant problem throughout his professional career. Coming back to even play in one or two games, though, could really help sway the minds of people in power in the NBA.
“If he wants to be a top five pick, he should play,” one NBA GM told ESPN. “Right now I don't think he is.”
“Proving he's healthy will be enough,” another said. “Basketball-wise, people know enough from what they've seen.”
Although it hasn't been confirmed by Porter Jr. most believe that regardless if he plays or not this season, he will probably leave the Missouri Tigers to enter the NBA draft, and even if he doesn't play again this season he should still be a lottery pick.
Teams would not hesitate on a talent such as Porter Jr. in what has been considered as a top-heavy draft class.
