Newest Brooklyn Nets Star Teases Retirement

The Brooklyn Nets made a huge offseason trade this summer, shipping Cameron Johnson off to the Denver Nuggets for a future first-round pick and veteran Michael Porter Jr. A former top ten pick, Porter Jr. went from a third option in Denver to a top offensive option in Brooklyn.

It's a big opportunity for Porter Jr. to showcase the talent that got him drafted so high, and to prove all of his doubters wrong. However, Porter Jr. recently made a podcast appearance and talked about the future of his playing career, teasing retirement in the process.

Porter Jr. appeared on the #Respectfully podcast hosted by Justin Laboy and made some interesting comments about his playing career.

Because of the injuries and stuff, I don’t know how much longer I really want to play. Like, I want to play as long as I can, but people don’t understand the things I’ve got to go through on a daily basis—just to get out on the court and play with the best athletes in the world.Michael Porter Jr.

Porter Jr. would go on to talk more in depth about his injuries on the podcast, even saying that he has to wear a brace on his left leg because it doesn't work like his right leg does. It's no secret that Porter Jr. has dealt with a litany of injury issues. He only played in three games in his Missouri career, missing the rest of his only collegiate season with an injury. He played 55, 61, 9 and 62 games in his first four NBA seasons before playing in 81 and 77 games the last two years.

Despite those injury problems, Porter Jr. has been a very productive player when on the court. He's averaging 16.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game on 50/40/80 shooting splits. The 27-year-old has established himself as one of the more underrated offensive forwards in the league. He'll have a chance to be a number one option for the first time in his NBA career in Brooklyn and be a veteran leader on an extremely young roster.

The Nets organization is banking on Porter Jr. being healthy and contributing to the next winning era in Brooklyn. So these comments are a little concerning for that future outlook. If Porter Jr. decides to hang up the cleats next summer, it would be hard to blame him given the injury history, but it would be a hard pill to swallow for Sean Marks and the Nets.