Michael Porter Jr. agrees to up to 5-year, $ 207 million extension with Denver Nuggets, agent says

The Denver Nuggets and forward Michael Porter Jr. have agreed on a designated five-year maximum extension that could be worth up to $ 207 million, Porter’s agent Mark Bartelstein of Priority Sports told Adrian. Wojnarowski from ESPN.

Porter will hit that figure of $ 207 million if he is one of all three All-NBA teams this season. Otherwise, he’ll get the five-year rookie maximum of $ 172 million.

The deal marks the fourth maximum rookie contract extension to be granted this offseason, a squad that includes Dallas Mavericks goaltender Luka Doncic, Atlanta Hawks goaltender Trae Young and Oklahoma City Thunder goaltender Shai Gilgeous. -Alexander. The other player to have accepted a rookie extension so far is Boston Celtics center Robert Williams, who agreed to a four-year, $ 50 million contract extension earlier this offseason.

Porter and the Nuggets have spent the offseason working on the deal – a complicated deal due to the combination of Porter’s talent and his history of back problems. It’s a situation reminiscent of what the Philadelphia 76ers experienced with center superstar Joel Embiid, who missed the first two seasons of his career with injury but went on to become one of the NBA’s best players. and this offseason agreed to a supermax contract extension to stay in Philadelphia long term.

Now Porter – a 6-foot-10 forward with elite scoring skills, averaging 19 points while shooting 54.2 percent from the field and 44.5 percent from 3 points last season – has does the same with Denver.

The deal with Porter means Denver’s top four players – reigning NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Porter and Aaron Gordon – have all signed long-term deals to stay with the Nuggets, who are hopeful that they will be able to form the nucleus of the first NBA Finals team in the history of the Nuggets.

Porter will play a particularly important role this season as Murray recovers from the ACL tear he suffered last March during a game at Golden State.

The expansion is a testament to Porter’s remarkable comeback story. He was one of the nation’s top preparation prospects before enrolling at the University of Missouri in 2017. However, a back injury forced him to miss all but three games of his only season with the Tigers. . The same problem dragged him to the 14th pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, when Denver Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly decided that the opportunity to add a talent like Porter was worth the risk.

Porter will miss the entire 2018-19 season after undergoing another back surgery shortly after Denver drafted him. But after returning to the field for the 2019-20 season, Porter quickly began to show the talent that made him such a vaunted prospect in the first place, helping Denver reach the Western Conference Finals for the first time since. 2009. He then took a significant step forward last season after entering the starting lineup full time.