Michael Porter Jr. Is Why the Nuggets will Never Win a Title

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    So yeah, that's a problem if you're Denver. Porter Jr. Has only played 9 games in the early portion of the season, and will now be out for an indefinite period of time with another procedure on his back. He had just signed a 5-year max extension with the Nuggets, a team that is a far cry from a free-agent destination. This means the Nuggets have a bunch of dead money tied up in a player that can't get on the court, or stay on it whenever he does manage to get out there; not to mention they have at least 4 more season of this ahead of them.

    Porter Jr. has never played a full season, playing just 1 game his rookie year, 55 the next year and 61 last year. Things were trending up, I'll admit that. But a back surgery at his young age? What made them think they could commit that kind of money to someone with that kind of red flag hanging over him? I'm far from a mathematician, but to me a quick mental cost-benefit analysis tells me that there's no way they should have given him this contract.

    With all that dead money tied up, the Nuggets will be even more hard pressed to bring in high quality talent to surround Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray. Aaron Gordon is a nice piece to have to stem the tide a bit, but there's a reason Gordon could only elevate the Magic but so far on his own. He's a strong piece, but he's not the guy. The guy is someone you give max money to, which would have been Porter Jr., but not with his health concerns.

    This could have been so simple for the Nuggets. I get wanting to have faith in your medical staff and Porter's training regiment, but a back injury is a back injury. Once the back gets hurt it never fully heals, even with Porter just entering his prime. If Denver was smart, they'd be looking for a trade partner for Porter immediately.  

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