Give Porter credit for playing through the left shoulder injury he suffered during the first round. Unfortunately for the Nuggets, he struggled in this series outside of a 21-point effort in Game 3. Remove his 5-of-6 effort from beyond the arc in that overtime victory, and Porter was 4-of-30 from three. And Game 3 was also the only contest in which Porter surpassed 10 points, and his second in double figures. We’ll likely receive a more definitive answer regarding the severity of Porter’s shoulder injury in the coming days, now that Denver’s season is over. And the Nuggets’ front office (whoever is hired to be the new lead executive) will have some questions to answer this offseason regarding the roster makeup. Despite his perceived upside, MPJ has mainly been a middle-round player in standard leagues during his NBA career. Fantasy managers can expect more of the same in 2025-26.

While Porter struggled in the first two games of this series, he deserves credit for fighting through the left shoulder injury he suffered during the first round. MPJ found his shot on Friday, shooting 5-of-6 from three and 70 percent from the field overall. His performance helped the Nuggets compensate for Nikola Jokic shooting 0-of-10 from three, giving the team a 2-1 series lead. Game 4 is on Sunday afternoon.

MPJ was slightly better in the second half, as all eight of his points came in the third quarter. However, the game was already out of hand at that point after a terrible first half for both Porter Jr. and the Nuggets. MPJ shot 1-of-8 in Game 1, and they’ll need him to be much better moving forward. The series will now shift back to Denver, and MPJ will look to get back on track during the two home games before the series heads back to Oklahoma City.

Initially questionable for Game 5, the Nuggets announced that Porter is officially available. He’ll take his usual place in the starting lineup, likely surpassing 40 minutes after logging 42 in Denver’s Game 4 victory on Saturday.