The Denver Nuggets have been hit with yet another injury blow, with budding star Michael Porter Jr. set to undergo lower back surgery and expected to miss the remainder of the season.
Denver have been without star guard Jamal Murray, who is recovering from an ACL tear from last April, whilst reigning-MVP Nikola Jokić has missed time due to a sprained wrist. The team current sits at 10th place in the Western Conference at 9-10 and have lost their past six games by an average of 15 points.
Porter Jr. is fresh off a season in which he played in 61 games, averaging 19.0 ppg and 7.3 rpg, whilst shooting 6.3 threes per game at a 44.5% clip. The 23-year-old was the first player in league history to hit those marks for a season. His play improved substantially as the season went, averaging 23.1 ppg over his final 25 regular season games, whilst hitting 45.1% of his 7.3 threes per game.
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Injury concerns have long troubled Porter Jr., who appeared in just three games throughout his highly-anticipated freshman year at Missouri due to a lower back injury he aggravated in the team’s season opener that required surgery. Concerns surrounding his health led to him dropping to the end of the lottery in the 2018 NBA Draft, where Denver pounced on him. Former Memphis Grizzlies executive John Hollinger labelled Porter Jr.’s pre-draft medical report as “the worst he had ever seen for a prospect”. Spinal surgery forced him to sit out his entire rookie year, before finally making his professional debut in October 2019.
In September, Porter Jr. and the Nuggets agreed to a 5-year, $172 million extension that kicks in next season and will run through until the end of the 2026-2027 season. The team is expected to take a cautious approach moving forward with their young star.
