On October 31, Beijing time, the NBA regular season continued, the Nuggets defeated the Timberwolves 93-91, and almost buried the game victory in the last minute, but fortunately the Timberwolves did not seize the opportunity to equalize. The Nuggets are currently in second place in the West with a record of four wins and two losses, but for the Nuggets, although they finally won the victory, they were still not happy, the biggest reason is that Porter Jr., who has just renewed his contract with a maximum salary of 172 million for five years, still has not found his own state, which is undoubtedly a sharp blow for the Nuggets in the case that Murray has not yet returned, averaging 10+6 per game! 35% + 29% but took 170 million contracts, and then gave Murray-style contracts to dig for gold losses?
As the 14th pick in 2018 by the Nuggets, Porter Jr. played his best last season after missing a season due to injury, averaging 19 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, shooting 54.2% from the field and 44.5% from three-point range, in the entire NBA league, I am afraid that almost no forward can play such an efficient performance, and only top scoring forwards such as Durant and Middleton can be compared, and after seeing the potential of the 23-year-old Porter Jr., The Nuggets are also offering a five-year, 2.07-year top-salary contract, and even if there are clauses, Porter Jr. can get as little as $172 million in five years.
However, after entering this season, I don't know whether it was slack after getting a big contract, or Porter Jr. was slow to find his state, so far, he has only averaged 10.8 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, and the shooting rate is only 33.3%, and the shooting rate outside the three-point line is as low as 25%, compared with last season's Porter Jr. Not to be compared to the top forwards, such a porter jr. is not even worthy of the starting lineup, which has to worry, the Nuggets' five-year 172 million maximum salary contract will become a garbage contract.
But in the history of the Nuggets, such a contract the Nuggets have given more than one, In 2019, the Nuggets and Jamal Murray signed a 5-year, 196 million super salary contract, at that time such a contract in the league is probably one of the few, Murray is not even an All-Star player, which also makes the Nuggets questionable, but fortunately Murray proved his strength, he and Jokic's combination of inside and outside lines has also played very good results in the past two years, in the playoffs there is a single game of 50 points super performance, then, now, Porter Jr.'s contract will make the Nuggets regret?
In fact, the season has just played six games so far, Porter Jr. obviously has not adapted after the off-season, for him such a super scorer, once he finds his rhythm on the offensive end, I am afraid that it is common to cut 40 points per game, so for Michael Porter Jr., through last season, it can be fully seen that he has unlimited potential on the offensive end, and he should be given more time now, after all, at the beginning of the season, he was also considered to be able to win the award of the fastest improved player of the season. If the average per game can return to more than 20 points, the Nuggets have nothing to question about the contract he gave him.