{"id":91025,"date":"2026-01-06T13:51:31","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T13:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/91025\/"},"modified":"2026-01-06T13:51:31","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T13:51:31","slug":"i-think-this-trade-was-good-for-everybody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/91025\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I think this trade was good for everybody’"},"content":{"rendered":"

BROOKLYN, N.Y. \u2014 Unencumbered by the schematic restraints that characterized his seven years in Denver and kindled his eagerness to start anew, Michael Porter Jr.<\/a> turned to the basket and sized up his opponent. His eyes narrowed as his nearest teammate cleared out through the lane, taking a defender with him. That left Jamal Murray alone, guarding Porter two steps inside the 3-point line on the right wing.<\/p>\n

Porter was free to act on instinct. He was working with a 7-inch height advantage over Murray, but as the Nuggets know well, it might not have mattered who was standing in his way. Ascending another few inches off the ground, cocking the ball back above his head, Porter activated into one of the most mechanically refined shooting forms in the NBA. It was a tough 2-pointer, but it was untouchable.<\/p>\n

MPJ took centerstage in his new role as Brooklyn\u2019s primary scoring option Sunday, when he matched up against the Nuggets for the first time since being traded last July. In a game he had \u201ccircled on my calendar for a minute,\u201d he led the Nets to a 127-115 win with 27 points, 11 rebounds and five assists \u2014 another productive outing in a season that has earned him All-Star buzz.<\/p>\n

Even amid that development, Nuggets first-year head coach and long-time offensive coordinator David Adelman has no regrets about the tertiary role Porter played for them throughout the first chapter of his career.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, he sacrificed. That\u2019s just the way it was,\u201d Adelman said. \u201cOur two-man (with Murray and Nikola Jokic) has been successful, and him in the corner with Aaron Gordon in the dunker was quite a thing. So Michael, I thought we used him the right way. I\u2019m sure he would disagree with me completely, which is OK. But yeah, we won a lot of games doing it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s no secret that Porter always had grander visions for himself. He was once the top prospect in his high school recruiting class, before back surgeries threatened his career. Over the years, he repressed his individual ambition while functioning primarily as a floor spacer in Denver. He won an NBA title with the Nuggets in 2023. He also had a shaky relationship with former coach Michael Malone, who often demanded more of him defensively while Porter in turn grew frustrated by the limitations of his offensive role and by Malone\u2019s harsh coaching style, league sources told The Denver Post.<\/p>\n

Still, Porter has spoken fondly of his time with the Nuggets since the trade, and he\u00a0responded to Adelman\u2019s comment Sunday with a nuanced perspective.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think whenever you have a team that talented, a championship-caliber team, there\u2019s going to be guys that sacrifice,\u201d he said. \u201c\u2026 And some of the ways they probably could have used me, we had enough good players to where we could create a good shot in a different way. I didn\u2019t need to come off a screen and be high-usage in that way, and shoot some of the tougher shots that I\u2019m shooting here, which I can make. But over there, those may not be considered the highest-percentage compared to what we could get.\u201d<\/p>\n

On a rebuilding Nets team, he\u2019s playing with the ball in his hands more often, averaging 60.5 touches per game compared to 41.8 over his last three years in Denver. He\u2019s scoring 25.9 points per game on 49.5% shooting and a 40.8% clip from 3-point range on a career-high 9.1 attempts. It\u2019s been proof of concept that his shot-making ability can remain highly efficient even without having Jokic as a teammate to generate open shots for him.<\/p>\n

The Nets are 13th in the Eastern Conference standings, but they\u2019re also 8-6 since the start of December. They won Porter\u2019s minutes by a team-best 22 points on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think that when the organization believes in you and they reiterate confidence, and there\u2019s positive attitudes and positive vibes whether you win or lose, or whether you have good games or bad games, that can change a player\u2019s production,\u201d Porter said. \u201cIt can change his confidence. \u2026 (Nets coach Jordi Fernandez) is telling you, keep shooting. When we watch film, he\u2019ll probably get more upset with you if you didn\u2019t take a shot than if you did. So I think that when you\u2019re constantly hearing that message, it can really help your confidence as a player.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m in (my eighth year), and I still feel the difference when a coach really believes in me, and when they kind of second-guess the shots you take.\u201d<\/p>\n

Adelman and Fernandez used to be assistant coaches together in Denver, where Porter was drafted 14th overall in 2018. \u201cIt\u2019s cool to see him have more freedom here under Jordi,\u201d Adelman said Sunday, adding that he has missed Porter\u2019s personality in the locker room as well.<\/p>\n

The Nuggets sent a 2032 first-round pick to Brooklyn along with Porter\u2019s $38 million salary to get back the cheaper Cam Johnson in the transaction, which also allowed them to acquire backup center Jonas Valanciunas from Sacramento. Johnson and Valanciunas were both out with injuries for the game in Brooklyn, where Johnson played for more than two seasons.<\/p>\n

After the trade, Porter posted a video on social media thanking the Nuggets and lamenting the end of his time in Denver while also sharing his excitement about the opportunity to expand his game. That opportunity has come to fruition, while the Nuggets have gotten better output from their bench with a more balanced salary cap sheet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this trade was good for everybody,\u201d Adelman said. \u201cHe won a championship with us. He\u2019s one of the main reasons we did it. I woke up today and we talked about (Brooklyn\u2019s) team, and the first thing I thought of was (NBA Finals) Game 5 when we won it. \u2026 That was his game. It really was.\u201d<\/p>\n

Porter had struggled with his 3-point shot throughout the series, but he managed a 16-point, 13-rebound double-double in the clincher, including a highlight between-the-legs dribble move in transition.<\/p>\n

He\u2019ll return to Ball Arena for the first time as an opponent later this month, when the Nuggets host the Nets in a rematch. Despite any reservations Porter had about how he was used in Denver, a resounding standing ovation is likely waiting for him in the first NBA arena he called home.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy expectation when I got drafted \u2014 I didn\u2019t really know much about the injuries or how they would have an effect my body \u2014 but my expectation was to be the best player in the NBA,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd injuries had its way with me. But I think determination and resilience has allowed me to be able to still carve out a pretty valuable space in the NBA and play a lot of years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Enough to seemingly have his best ahead of him still, even after a memorable run in Denver.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BROOKLYN, N.Y. \u2014 Unencumbered by the schematic restraints that characterized his seven years in Denver and kindled his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":91026,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[30521,43129,98,100,99,16513,5341,43130,7672,9134,7673,2837,30525,38389,4570,85,43131,11497,30527,21,37011,9,24,28406,30528,63,319,10893],"class_list":["post-91025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-aaron-gordon","tag-ball-arena","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-cam-johnson","tag-colorado","tag-david-adelman","tag-denver","tag-denver-nuggets","tag-front-range","tag-injuries","tag-jamal-murray","tag-jonas-valanciunas","tag-jordi-fernandez","tag-latest-headlines","tag-michael-malone","tag-michael-porter","tag-more-nuggets-news","tag-nba","tag-nba-finals","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nikola-jokic","tag-nuggets","tag-nyc","tag-sports","tag-trade"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91025","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=91025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91025\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91026"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}