NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. experienced a significant change this summer when he was traded to the Nets from the Denver Nuggets in exchange for forward Cam Johnson. Brooklyn will be hoping that Porter can be one of the focal points of the team in a way that he wasn’t asked to be with the Nuggets and he described how he has adjusted to the role.
“It’s just different spots on the floor that I’m trying to get comfortable in, specifically the mid-post area,” Porter said following Wednesday’s training camp practice. Heading into the 2025-26 season, Porter will be one of three players guaranteed to be in the starting lineup, along with guard Cam Thomas and center Nic Claxton, that the team will be relying on to produce wins and special moments.
“I feel like I can score 6 to 8 points easy, just getting comfortable in there, facing up, and shooting over the top, or bumping somebody and getting downhill,” Porter continued. “In camp, that’s been a place for me that I feel really comfortable in that mid-range area. Obviously on our Denver team, that was a kind of a spot that obviously Joker was in a lot, sometimes we post AG up in the mid post.”
Porter, 27, is coming off a 2024-25 season in which he averaged 18.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game while shooting 50.4% from the field and 39.5% from three-point land. As Porter alluded to, he has spent all of his career playing next to center Nikola Jokic and guard Jamal Murray, but the highest usage rate that the former Missouri Tiger has had during his time in Denver was 22.7%.
Under head coach Jordi Fernandez, the Nets will be trying to be a more efficient offense by taking plenty of three-pointers and layups, but Porter sounds like he will be able to explore other parts of his game at the same time. “It’s [the mid-range] somewhere that I feel very comfortable getting to my shot from, and I think that’ll be a place that down the stretch of games when things slow down, I can utilize that,” Porter said.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets’ Michael Porter Jr. details adjusting to new role in Brooklyn
