Coming off a career-best offensive season in which he averaged 24.2 points per game, Michael Porter Jr. remains in extension talks with the Nets, general manager Sean Marks confirmed Monday at Media Day.<\/p>\n
Neither side feels pressure to get a deal done before the 2026-27 campaign begins.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ll leave the negotiations internal. That\u2019s obviously between the Nets and Mike and his agent, but I think they\u2019re ongoing,\u201d Marks said. \u201cThe dialogue is ongoing, I think. But again, we are in no hurry to do this. I don\u2019t think he\u2019s in any particular hurry either.\u201d<\/p>\n
Porter is owed $40.8 million in 2026-27, the final season of the five-year, $179.3 million contract he signed with the Denver Nuggets before Brooklyn acquired him. The Nets can extend him through June 30. If they don\u2019t reach a deal, he\u2019ll become an unrestricted free agent next summer.<\/p>\n
An agreement now would give Porter the long-term commitment he wants and give Brooklyn certainty about one of its veteran leaders. Waiting would let the Nets judge his fit alongside Julius Randle and their young players before making that commitment. They could still re-sign him next summer using his Bird rights, but Porter would also be free to negotiate with other teams.<\/p>\n
A four-year extension signed now would carry a six-month trade restriction, effectively taking a move at February\u2019s deadline off the table.<\/p>\n
Porter acknowledged the talks and made his preference clear. He wants Brooklyn to be more than another stop in his career.<\/p>\n
\u201cI never was a dude who played basketball for a big contract or for the money,\u201d Porter said. \u201cSo, for me, I\u2019m just excited to play with these guys and be in Brooklyn and build this organization as one of the leaders. So, I\u2019ve voiced that I would love to be in Brooklyn and that I\u2019m enjoying playing with these guys.\u201d<\/p>\n
The mutual interest has kept the conversation going. What comes next depends, in part, on what Porter shows on the court.<\/p>\n
Marks praised the way Porter embraced his opportunity with the Nets, then described what Brooklyn wants to see from him now: steady production, growth on defense and an impact that reaches beyond scoring.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think for us, we\u2019re looking for consistency from him,\u201d Marks said. \u201cWe\u2019re looking for him to take another step on the defensive end of it. So just become more of a complete player on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Nets will weigh his leadership, too, as they try to identify the players who can help shape their long-term core.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other one is what can you do? The intangibles, right?\u201d Marks said. \u201cThat\u2019s important for us in the locker room. Not just goes for Mike, this goes for all the guys, specifically the guys who are a little bit older, who have seen it, been around a little bit, what\u2019s their leadership look like?\u201d<\/p>\n
The 28-year-old already sees himself as one of those voices. He watched a talented roster in Denver become a championship team. Brooklyn is earlier in its process, but the progress he\u2019s seen from the Nets\u2019 young players has given him reason to invest in it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve seen great players, I\u2019ve seen a championship team,\u201d Porter said. \u201cAnd I think that these guys, the way these young guys have gotten better just in one year, I\u2019m just excited to see what we can do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Porter believes Randle\u2019s arrival can help him make a stronger case on the floor. Randle can get downhill, draw help and find shooters, easing some of the creation burden Porter carried last season. And he doesn\u2019t need much room to get a shot off.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think our games complement each other perfectly,\u201d Porter said. \u201cHe\u2019s able to draw a double team, get downhill, draw the crowd. And then he\u2019s also a great passer and the way he passes the ball with the velocity of his passes, I don\u2019t need much space to catch it and shoot it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Randle sees a natural fit between his ability to create in the paint and Porter\u2019s cutting and shooting. Porter expects that combination, along with the development of Brooklyn\u2019s younger players, to give him cleaner looks.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just envision myself getting a lot more wide-open shots than last year, especially playing with Julius, but also with the young guys getting stronger, being able to touch the paint easier,\u201d Porter said. \u201cI think that my goal is just to produce but in a more efficient way because I got players around me who can create.\u201d<\/p>\n
Porter spent the offseason working on his conditioning and ball control, two priorities that emerged from his first season in Brooklyn and the larger role it demanded. Now he wants to become, in his words, \u201cthe best off-the-ball player in the NBA,\u201d building on the movement, cutting and shooting that have long defined his game.<\/p>\n
That work will unfold while the Nets evaluate more than their youngest players. Marks said Brooklyn believes some players already on the roster will be part of its future. This season should help determine who they are.<\/p>\n
Porter is part of that decision. He\u2019s told the Nets where he wants to be. Brooklyn has told him what it wants to see. If the two sides find common ground, Marks said, they can make a deal.<\/p>\n
Training camp\u2019s arrival won\u2019t force one.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think if there\u2019s a meeting point that we feel like, \u2018Hey, this works for both sides,\u2019 then that\u2019ll happen,\u201d Marks said. \u201cBut again, as we\u2019ve mentioned before, this is not something that there\u2019s an expiry date on it in the next couple of months either. So, I think we both have time. Both sides have time to figure this one out.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Coming off a career-best offensive season in which he averaged 24.2 points per game, Michael Porter Jr. remains…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":359172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,133675,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-359171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-michael-porter-jr-nets","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=359171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/359171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/359172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=359171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=359171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=359171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}