The injury-depleted Nuggets were able to mentally reset this week, getting three days at home between games for Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, the NBA season crossed the one-month mark, with trends and storylines growing increasingly recognizable. Let’s take a look around the league at five topics outside of Denver but related to the Nuggets.
MPJ finding fulfillment in Brooklyn
You always wondered, throughout Michael Porter Jr.’s six years in Denver, whether he had some lingering untapped potential as a ball-in-hand scorer. He was a lethal off-ball weapon in the Nuggets’ system, and he bought into that role enough to help them win a championship, much to his credit.
But he always wondered the same thing. This is a former No. 1 high school recruit in the country, after all, back surgeries or not. What would he look like as a first option on a bad team?
We’re all watching that experiment play out in real time. In his first 15 games of the season, Porter averaged 24.8 points (6.6 more than last year), 7.6 rebounds and 3.2 assists as the front-man of an aimless Nets squad. Even without Nikola Jokic’s gravity to enhance the quality of his shots, he’s still shooting 38% from 3-point range on a career-high 8.6 attempts per game, and 58.3% from 2-point range, remarkably consistent with his 58.5% mark over his last three seasons in Denver combined.
I use that sample size because it encompasses everything after his third surgery, a critical demarcation point in his career. Porter touched the ball 41.8 times per game across those three years, taking a backseat to Jokic and Jamal Murray’s two-man game. He’s averaging 61.9 touches so far in Brooklyn, the most on the team. As of early this week, he was one of eight players in the league with at least 50 touches per game and 0.4 points per touch. That collection of players included the likes of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Steph Curry and Kawhi Leonard.
Is the individual production amounting to winning basketball? Not exactly. But for a shot-making talent who said he wanted to use the opportunity in Brooklyn to “explore” and “expand” his game, it looks that trade has been fulfilling. Maybe Porter will find another home eventually where his role can be a happy medium between the two he’s played so far in the NBA. Both experiences can be informative.
I was wrong about L.A.
Specifically, about which team there would be the more serious contender. All the offseason moves that made the Clippers look so much deeper on paper have backfired spectacularly. Bradley Beal is out for the year and John Collins hasn’t made a meaningful impact, while Norman Powell thrives in Miami; Brook Lopez looks mighty old at backup center; and Chris Paul hasn’t even been an everyday rotation player in his final season.
Oh, also, Leonard is hurt again after purportedly coming into the season fully healthy. My fault for falling for the Clippers once again.
Downtown, the Lakers keep finding ways to win games despite LeBron James’s sciatica. I had my doubts before the season about how all the pieces would fit together, and I still do — they rank outside the top 10 in offense and defense. But I’m not going to argue with the results. Anyone can recognize that Luka Doncic’s Lakers have one of the highest ceilings in the league.
Sadly, the Nuggets won’t be seeing them until late January. Something worth monitoring in the meantime: L.A.’s net rating is zero when Doncic and his new roll man Deandre Ayton share the floor; it’s 14.6 when Doncic plays without Ayton.
West is weaker than we thought
Owing partly to that sinking Clipper ship, the Western Conference is nowhere close to the gauntlet Denver was prepared to face this season. Several teams that expected to be competitive have been disasters.
The Mavericks spent their first 10 games finding a convenient opportunity to fire general Nico Harrison — which unfortunately does not give them the right to any takesies backsies on recent transactions. Ja Morant has been causing distractions left and right in Memphis, whether he’s in uniform or sweats. Sacramento’s “Beam Team” feels like it was two centuries ago, not two years. Then you have the Pelicans, who maybe shouldn’t count alongside these other teams, except that they bet on themselves to be good with a reckless draft-day trade in June.
The result is a Western landscape that’s surprisingly barren in the bottom half of the standings. At least one opportunistic underdog should make the Play-In Tournament as a top-10 seed. Phoenix and Portland are both in the picture for now.
What does it mean for Denver? Maybe not much in the grand scheme. The regular-season schedule takes on an easier appearance, but the playoffs won’t be any less daunting. The West remains top-heavy. The Thunder legitimately may win 70 games.
Head-to-head season series records against other contenders like the Rockets and Lakers could be vital in the pursuit of the No. 2 or No. 3 seed, rather than No. 4 — teams will want to avoid OKC’s side of the bracket. Those spots could come down to tiebreakers; Denver got a head start on Houston last week with a massive road win.
Eventful trade deadline ahead?
Quite a few will-they-won’t-they trade possibilities are developing around the league. Would the Hawks rather move on from Trae Young than extend him? Will Morant or LaMelo Ball have enough value for Memphis or Charlotte to finally press the “eject” button? Will Timberwolves president Tim Connelly, the famously trigger-happy former Nuggets GM, take another bold swing to get Anthony Edwards a point guard?
Detroit’s next move will be particularly fascinating after a 15-2 start in the wide open East. The Pistons could ride out this season and see what they have — the 2023-24 Thunder approach — or they could try to land a forward upgrade with more three-level scoring ability. Right now, point guard Cade Cunningham is averaging 10.5 more field goal attempts than any of his teammates, and he’s doing a lot of the work to generate their scoring chances as well.
Utah’s Lauri Markkanen has been linked to the Pistons, but he’ll have a designer brand price tag. Dallas might shop the increasingly fragile Anthony Davis, but that seems too risky for the young Pistons’ ascendant timeline. Same probably goes for DeMar DeRozan (not to mention he wouldn’t fix Detroit’s 3-point shooting shortage), but his contract is easier to stomach, and Sacramento needs to de-clutter with a yard sale. How about Trey Murphy III from New Orleans? Or an MPJ rental for two playoff runs, if Brooklyn decides to flip him?
The Nuggets already got most of their roster refurbishment done in the offseason, but I would expect them to at least sniff around for secondary ball-handling to help out Murray, especially now with the knowledge that Aaron Gordon’s injury risk isn’t going away.
Injury epidemic will muck up awards races
The two most uttered words in the NBA this season have been “calf strain.” Not ideal, after the 2025 playoffs were defined by torn Achilles tendons. Aside from the considerable impact on the league’s product quality, this proliferation of soft-tissue injuries could result in some odd All-NBA team inclusions.
Under the new collective bargaining agreement, players are required to appear in at least 65 out of 82 games to qualify for awards. With the increased pace of play and subsequent physical demand, that’s looking like a tall task for many of the sport’s best athletes. Fifteen players every year receive All-NBA honors, which impact the flow of millions of dollars. How many of them this year will actually be top-15 players in the league, if guys keep straining muscles at this rate?
If you’re a fan of basketball, you have to hope Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo (abductor strain) will be able to return soon and stay on the court. It’s shaping up to be a ridiculous four-way MVP race between him, Jokic, Doncic and Gilgeous-Alexander — assuming they’re all healthy, which might not be such a safe assumption.
One last thing
A hearty au revoir to our devoted and dependable sports editor Matt Schubert, whose last day at The Denver Post was a week ago. I would not be in Colorado without Matt, who worked tirelessly to put out this section and ensure high-quality coverage from a small staff. He cared about his writers and was an exceptional leader, more than making up for his questionable track record as host of our Nuggets Ink podcast.
I’m endlessly thankful for Matt and wish him the best. If he was still in charge, he would probably cut this blurb. Tough.
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