The Denver Nuggets have locked another piece of their young core to a long-term deal. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Nuggets and their talented forward Michael Porter Jr. have agreed to a five-year, max extension early this week.
Wojnarowski reports that the deal is worth $172 million but could go up to $207 million if Porter makes an All-NBA team in 2021-22. The player’s agent Mark Bartelstein confirmed the deal to ESPN, but the Nuggets are yet to release an official announcement.
The contract represents the faith that the Nuggets have in Porter, his talent, and the reward for his outstanding 2020-21 campaign. The 23-year-old star finished the regular season averaging 19.0 points and 7.3 rebounds while shooting an impressive 45.5 percent from the three-point line.
Earlier this offseason, Denver also signed forward Aaron Gordon to an extension. The franchise now has all their key players—2020’s NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, All-Star Jamal Murray, Gordon, and Porter—under contract for the foreseeable future.
Coming out of high school, Michael Porter Jr. was considered to be the best player in the nation in his class. However, a back injury in his first college game for Missouri caused his draft stocks to drop significantly, and he ended up slipping away to number 14 in the 2018 NBA Draft where he was picked up by the Denver Nuggets.
While Porter ended up sitting his first year as a pro, the gamble ended up paying big time for the Nuggets. He made his NBA debut early in the 2019-20 season and has been mostly injury-free since while becoming one of the key contributors on Denver’s roster.
