JANUARY 22: Porter will be active and will play against Phoenix on Friday night, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
JANUARY 21: Michael Porter Jr., who hasn’t played in a game since December 29 due to the NBA’s health and safety protocols, has reported back to the Nuggets and will be listed as questionable for Friday’s game against Phoenix, tweets Mike Singer of The Denver Post.
Porter was originally held out for seven days for contact tracing purposes, then tested positive for the coronavirus, extending his quarantine period by another two weeks.
The young forward will have to ramp up his conditioning and complete additional testing – including a cardio exam – before he’s formally cleared to return to the Nuggets’ lineup (Twitter links via Singer and Ohm Youngmisuk of ESPN).
While it’s not clear if Porter will be game-ready by tomorrow, head coach Michael Malone said today that he’s optimistic the 22-year-old will be able to play at some point during Denver’s five-game road trip, which begins on Friday in Phoenix and runs through next Friday (January 29) in San Antonio.
Malone stated earlier this week that Porter’s spot in the starting lineup is safe, though he referred to Will Barton today as “a starter,” noting that he feels the Nuggets have more than five starter-caliber players, tweets Singer. As such, it remains to be seen whether MPJ will immediately supplant Barton as the team’s starting small forward or if he’ll be gradually eased back into that role.
Can’t wait to see MPJ back, guy is absolutely unstoppable!!!
They’re never gonna lose another game. Ever. Undefeated next 15 years
Lol “hasn’t played since December 29th” sound pretty stoppable to me.
mpj’s back iz what’s stopping him.
His back and inability to play a lick of defense
Denver has issues MPJ can’t solve, only exacerbate. They can’t defend on the level needed to be a real contender. They’ve been a bit better defensively since MPJ has been out, but still shaky.
Hopefully now that he has tested positive twice MPJ will stop with his COVID conspiracy nonsense.
Denver needs to trade him asap …