Michael Porter Jr. has not ruled out a return to action in series vs the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs. In an interview with Mark J. Spears of ESPN, Porter sees his progress day-by-day recovering from a back surgery.
“Right now, I’m taking it game by game. I’m not ruling anything out,” Porter said. This is a thing I don’t ever want to deal with again, so I’m just taking my time. … I’m playing it game by game.
Every morning I wake up and I know I’m feeling good. Every day I’m getting closer.” the Nuggets’ forward noted
Porter underwent a spine surgery on Dec.1. It was his third back surgery during his career with the first coming in 2017 during his freshman year in Missouri. He was coming off a great 2020-21 campaign helping the Nuggets reach the Conference semi-finals entering this season.
Photo: Rocky Widner/NBAE via Getty Images
He appeared hampered physically during his first nine game of the regular season averaging 9.9 points and 6.6 rebounds before being sidelined. He last played in Nov.6 in a game vs the Houston Rockets.
The Nuggets opened their playoff series against Golden State without their starting forward, 2019 All-Star guard Jamal Murray and backup guard Facundo Campazzo. Murray has been sidelined since undergoing a surgery to repair a torn ACL.
The Nuggets haven’t ruled out Porter and Murray returning. After losing comfortably in Game 1, Denver prepares for Game 2 of the series vs Warriors, which will take place on Monday night.
Porter averaged 19.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game during the 2020-21 season. He appeared in 61 games.
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