After becoming a champion in Denver, Michael Porter Jr. moves on to Brooklyn for career growth – and the Nets are letting him become who he was projected to be coming out of high school: a full-fledged star in the NBA

Michael Porter Jr. has never lacked talent. That was never the question – not in high school, not in college, not at the NBA level. The questions, instead, hovered around everything else: the injuries, the fit, the role, the contract, the playstyle, and the frustrating nights where the ball barely moved. Fair or not, the narrative around Porter Jr. has followed him for years.

But in Brooklyn, something is changing.

Porter Jr. has erupted for three straight 30-point games, playing perhaps his best basketball over the past three games and becoming the first player in Nets franchise history to record 30+ points, 5+ rebounds and 5+ threes in three consecutive outings. In a season that has felt like another learning experience and a transitioning year for the franchise, he has emerged as one of the bright spots in a tough season record-wise: a reminder of the player many once believed he would become.

It’s easy to forget now, but before back surgeries derailed his trajectory, Porter Jr. was the top prospect in the 2018 class – ranked above Deandre Ayton, Marvin Bagley III, and even Luka Doncic on several boards. He was the long, fluid, three-level scorer every team coveted. He was billed as a franchise centerpiece, not a complementary piece.

That version of MPJ rarely had space to breathe in Denver. Playing alongside Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray, and Aaron Gordon meant living as a third or fourth option, functioning more as a floor spacer than a fully realized scorer. His job was to hit shots, run the floor, defend, rebound – not to dominate possessions or shape the offense.

The Nuggets needed role players around Jokic. And true enough, Denver traded Porter Jr. to Brooklyn this offseason in exchange for Cam Johnson. The move was framed more as a financial relief and role concerns. Porter Jr.'s contract was massive, and his perceived fit issues – amplified by statements around the league and online about him being “Michael never swinging the rock Porter Jr.” – made it somewhat with sense and drawn from something.

This was a change of scenery for Porter Jr., and a chance to show that he is skillful enough to be a first option in this league. The Nets saw something different in him: a big wing scorer just entering his prime age years, fully capable of putting pressure on defenses in ways few players his size can.

Now that they’ve given him the keys, Porter Jr. is showing why it was worth the bet.

His scoring bursts aren’t coming from chaotic, ball-stopping sequences. Instead, they’re flowing inside a structure tailored to his strengths – quick-hitting pindowns, ghost screens, high flares, and mid-post touches where his high release point becomes unguardable. He looks confident. He looks free. He looks like someone playing without the weight of expectation for the first time in years.

A major piece of this resurgence is Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez, whose steady grip within the organization amid all the losing has turned into one of Brooklyn’s most important stories.

Porter Jr. called Fernandez a “genius,” indicating the head coach for putting him in a position to succeed as a scorer, and not just a catch and shooter. The tape supports it: Fernandez has built an offensive ecosystem that bends toward Porter Jr.’s natural tendencies instead of demanding he mold himself into something else.

Brooklyn is putting him in spots Denver seldom did: early-clock actions where he gets a head start, mismatches in the mid-post, and movement threes that let him catch without thinking. For the first time in a long time, Porter Jr. isn’t being told to adapt – and he has Fernandez to thank for that.

Perhaps there is a deeper significance to all of this. Porter Jr. has spent years hearing the critiques: doesn’t pass enough, doesn’t defend consistently enough, benefits too much from Jokić’s brilliance, can’t lead a team in scoring, can’t justify the huge contract given to him.

This current stretch won’t silence every doubter – and it shouldn’t be expected to. But it does something just as important: it proves that when the opportunity is there, he can be a first option. He can generate efficient offense, and he can carry the load. He’s no longer just the guy who fits around stars. He’s capable of being the star.

And with Brooklyn in search of identity, direction, and hope, Porter Jr. has unexpectedly become a key asset for the franchise – a player proving he can be the version of himself the basketball world once saw early in his career.