Michael Porter Jr. opens up the possibility of Denver trading him before dropping 38 points in return

ByNBAUSA


Michael Porter Jr. on Thursday he made his long-awaited return to Denver. The matchup had been circled on his calendar since the Nuggets the salary bumped him to the Brooklyn Nets along with a first-round pick in an offseason trade for Cam Johnson. Despite Porter’s 38-point heroics, the Nets came up short in a 107-103 loss.

Before the game, Porter said he had no hard feelings toward the Nuggets, calling the Nets trade a win.

“I would say it’s a very unique situation where both organizations benefit from the trade,” Porter said. “I don’t look back on it with any saltiness to the organization. They got a lot out of trading me, not just Cam, but Val, Bruce Brown, Tim Hardaway Jr., who’s playing fantastic. So I think that’s cool. I still keep up with them. They were able to stay afloat when Joker, AG and CB stayed afloat, and last year they were without them and some of them left, and I don’t know if it would have been the same if it was probably one of those unique trades in which everyone has succeeded.

Despite his comments, Porter’s demeanor early in the game was that of a player determined to show the Nuggets what they were missing.

Michael Porter Jr.’s 38 points in return to Denver not enough as Nets fall to Nuggets

Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. (17) shoots the ball over Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray (27) during the second half at Ball Arena.
Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

Despite Denver putting all of its defensive focus on him, the 6-foot-10 forward scored a season-high 38 points on 12-of-25 shooting from the field and 7-of-15 from three. He added 10 rebounds, three assists, two steals and two blocks.

The Nets fought back from a 19-point deficit to take a two-point lead with 3:15 remaining. However, as has been the case during several recent losses, they were unable to generate clutch offense to pull out the win.

Porter ran out of gas down the stretch as he faced constant double teams, shooting 2-of-7 from the field and 1-of-5 from three in the fourth quarter. Meanwhile, Jamal Murray made one of his best clutch catches of the season. The All-Star prospect scored four straight possessions in the final three minutes to secure the win for Denver.

Murray finished with 27 points and six assists on 9-of-16 shooting.

“It was a little bit of (extra) motivation (on my part),” Porter said. “Should’ve pulled it out. I felt like I missed a couple of shots I should have made down the stretch. . . . We came all the way back and took the lead. I got to help finish it. . . . I wanted to get a season overview of these guys. . . But that’s what Jamal does. He’s been doing it for a long time. It was tough to be on the other end.”

Porter received a tribute video and standing ovation from the Ball Arena crowd during the first time out of the game.

“It was cool to come back here and get love from the fans… I’ll probably watch the (tribute) video on Instagram again. It’s really cool. The memories I had here and the fans recognizing it,” he said.

Brooklyn was without Egor Demin, Noah Clowney, Cam Thomas and Zaire Williams in the front end of back-to-back games on Thursday. Denver was missing Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon, Christian Brown and Johnson.

The best Nets van Porter scorers were Terence Mann with 12 points and Nick Claxton with 10 points. Tim Hardaway Jr. scored 25 points on 7-of-11 shooting from three for the Nuggets, while Peyton Watson added 19 points on 7-of-15 shooting from the field.

Victory he marked 10. Nuggets in the last 16 games since Jokic went down with a knee injury. Denver is in third place in the Western Conference, half a game behind the San Antonio Spurs for second place.

meanwhile, The Nets have lost seven in a row and 15 of the last 17 games. The cold weather moved them to fourth in the lottery standings, 1.5 games behind the Sacramento Kings and the New Orleans Pelicans, the league’s worst record.





2026-01-30 15:36:00

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