In his first season with the Brooklyn Nets , sweet-shooting forward Michael Porter Jr. has been able to show the league exactly what he's capable of as a team's primary option.
This season, the seventh-year forward out of Missouri, who was traded for Cam Johnson during the offseason, is putting up career-best marks of 24.3 points and 3.1 assists to go along with 7.2 rebounds per game, and he was being talked about as a potential first-time All-Star, and was considered a snub when he didn't get the nod.
And while MPJ is indeed coming into his own as one of the stars in the league that many, including himself, thought he would be, what he won't be doing this season is competing for a championship. The Nets are currently sitting at 13th in the Eastern Conference with a dismal 16-47 record.
It's a stark contrast from where his former team, the Denver Nuggets , is in terms of contention status.
The Nuggets are currently sixth in the Western Conference with a 39-25 record. And while they are a little lower down in the playoff bracket, it's hard to discount a team that has championship experience, a three-time MVP, and a known playoff riser on its roster.
Simply put, with guys like Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray , there's always a possibility that the Nuggets are competing for a title in June.
If the Nuggets do end up bringing back another Larry O'Brien trophy to the Mile High City, it's going to be a bittersweet experience for Porter Jr.
When the Nuggets won their first franchise title back in 2023, Porter Jr. was undeniably a key part of the team's rotation. That championship season, Porter Jr. averaged a solid 17.4 points and 5.5 rebounds a game during the regular season, and then stayed solid in the playoffs, putting up 13.4 points and 8.1 rebounds during their run to the title.
Porter Jr. will forever share that championship season with his former Nuggets teammates, but he admits that it's going to hit a little differently if his former team does end up getting another 'chip.
"I would love it and hate it if Denver won," Porter Jr. said on an episode of The Emily Austin Show. "I would love it because those are my friends, but I would hate it because that means they got better once they traded me. I'm like the toxic ex."
"I would love it for all my individual teammates, but selfishly, that human nature part of me is like 'Dang, they shipped me off and they got better and won a championship,'" Porter Jr. added.
And while it may sting a little bit, the Nets star says he's picking the Nuggets to win it all, especially if they can get healthy come postseason time.
"My prediction is that, everyone gets healthy on the Nuggets, Peyton Watson, he broke out this year, [Aaron Gordon] is a difference-maker, and once they get healthy for the playoffs, it's gonna be really, really hard to beat them in seven games. I'mma go with Denver," Porter Jr. shared.
Truth be told, the Nuggets have been dealing with a bit of bad luck in terms of injury, which can explain why they're barely in the guaranteed postseason portion of the standings.
Earlier this season, the Nuggets lost Jokic for a significant stretch, while Gordon has played only 24 games. Watson, meanwhile, who stepped up in Jokic and Gordon's absence, has been out with an injury of his own as well.
Case in point, the Nuggets have been far from healthy this season, and yet they're still very much in the running for a guaranteed playoff spot.
If they can get healthy by the time the playoffs start, as Porter Jr. said, it's gonna be tough to take down the Nuggets in a seven-game series.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Mar 9, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
