Nuggets HC makes bold statement on Michael Porter Jr.'s future

Michael Porter Jr. enjoyed his best game of the season on Monday, pouring in 36 points in 40 minutes en route to a 12-point victory over New Orleans. After the win, Nuggets head coach Michael Malone was asked if he’s touched base with Porter more frequently ahead of the Feb. 6 deadline, given that the veteran forward has been the subject of trade rumors this season.

According to Malone, there has been no need to do so since Porter isn’t going anywhere, via Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette.

“No, because we’re not trading Michael Porter,” Malone said. “So, I’m not touching base with anybody on that. I’m touching base with guys on better defense, better spacing, taking care of the ball. If there’s something coming, obviously (general manager) Calvin (Booth) will talk with me and I’m sure we’ll communicate with whatever players.

“But Michael is a really important piece. Michael helped us win a championship. We’ll see what happens going into this coming Thursday, but to my knowledge, there have been no conversations. I don’t feel the need to converse with somebody when there’s nothing there.”

Porter, who spoke to the media after Malone, said that his coach’s message is the same one he’s heard from the organization ahead of the deadline and told reporters, “From what I’ve heard, they’re not interested in moving me.”

Pointing to the NBA's unpredictability, he acknowledged that things could change but said he was not stressed about the possibility.

“As long as I’m here, I’m gonna be here, and I’m gonna be happy,” Porter said. “I’m gonna play hard and try to be available and try to help win games. If the day came where they wanted to trade me and they they wanted to go a different direction, then I’ll be excited for the new opportunity, but it’s not something I think about at all.”

After battling back issues earlier in his NBA career, Porter has been an iron man for Denver over the past two seasons, missing just one game since the start of the 2023-24 campaign. He’s having one of his best seasons as a pro in ’24-25, putting up 18.3 points, 6.4 rebounds, and a career-high 2.2 assists in 33.3 minutes per night, with a strong shooting line of .513/.408/.744.

Porter has been mentioned as a possible trade candidate because he’s the most expendable player of the four Nuggets, earning more than $8.9M this season (Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, and Aaron Gordon are the others). For any sizable deal Denver wanted to make, his $36M cap hit would likely be required for salary-matching purposes.

If Porter isn’t going anywhere, the Nuggets will likely explore smaller deals, possibly involving Zeke Nnaji ($8.9M) and/or Dario Saric ($5.2M), though both players are thought to have negative trade value due to their limited roles and multiyear contracts.