Michael Porter Jr.’s newest injury is starting to get murky for the Nuggets
Dec 1, 2022, 3:11 PM
Michael Porter Jr. will miss his fifth-straight game for the Denver Nuggets on Friday due to a left foot injury.
The Nuggets’ star forward had been dealing with the injury while playing for a few games before sitting. MPJ was needed as the Nuggets were down Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon for a stretch due to illnesses. Porter also missed a game in October as he rebounds from nearly missing the entirety of last season with a back injury.
Injuries have robbed Porter of his lone college season, his rookie season, last year and now a small chunk of this season. Officially the injury is now called a left heel strain, a change from what they had been calling a left heel contusion.
Porter was on the court and warming up prior to Wednesday’s game against Houston. They’ll be without the 16-point-per-game sharpshooter in Atlanta to start the weekend. Denver also plays in New Orleans on Sunday before coming back to Colorado.
There doesn’t seem to be a significant worry with Porter yet, but hard knowledge about his status seems to be evasive. The Denver Post reported that Porter has drop foot—lacks feeling in his foot—as a result of his back surgeries and it looks as though the foot impacted is the same that’s bothering him now—the left.
There’s no timeline for MPJ’s return but Denver has been fine without him thus far. The Nuggets are 5-0 without the Missouri Tiger but those games have come against weaker opponents. Denver is now 14-7 after winning 120-100 on Wednesday and return home next week for a Ball Arena-heavy portion of their schedule.
Porter is third on the team in points per game and is in the league’s top 20 three-point shooters by percentage at 42.7% of players who hoist four or more a game. Porter is also a valued contributor on the glass, snatching six rebounds per contest.
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