Michael Porter Jr. of the Denver Nuggets made his debut on Thursday night against the New Orleans Pelicans after missing all of last year recovering from back surgery after only playing three games in college with Missouri.
During the first quarter of the game against New Orleans, Porter Jr. registered his first career bucket:
Michael Porter Jr. gets to the bucket for his first NBA points! #MileHighBasketball
📺: @NBAonTNT pic.twitter.com/ZBFDJBUDrr
— NBA (@NBA) November 1, 2019
As you can see, Porter doesn’t seem to be showing any adverse effects from the rash of injuries Porter has experienced so far in his short career, which include a knee injury, which kept the 21-year-old out of Summer League and the preseason.
Porter Jr. was a brilliant high school player and was widely believed to be the best prospect in the 2018 NBA Draft class. However, concerns about Porter’s medicals saw him fall all the way to #14 overall in the 2018 NBA Draft – the final pick in the lottery.
The Nuggets, who had just barely missed the playoffs that year on the final game of the regular season, gladly took a chance on Porter, and that risk seemed to pay off immediately as Porter looks fluid and rather gifted with the ball in his hands, if his first career field goal is any indication.
Porter clocks in at 6-foot-10 and 215 pounds, and while his athleticism may have been somewhat affected by the back surgery, he clearly has a knack for scoring, as he juked out his defender with a jab step and then seemingly glided to the rim with a delicate smoothness, which should translate immediately.
It’s good to see Porter Jr. out there, so let’s hope that was the first of many buckets in his NBA career.
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