In a league with public and regulated salaries, a bad run can quickly lead to finger-pointing at a player and his contract. The Nuggets' third option on offense, Michael Porter Jr. had signed a five-year, $207 million contract in 2021, a strong testament to the franchise's confidence in him, despite his major injuries early in his career. A huge contract, synonymous with more responsibilities in the game, but also more pressure.
“Honestly, money sometimes makes it a little harder to enjoy the game,” he recognizes to the microphone of his former teammate Austin Rivers. “Because with a max contract comes a lot of expectations about consistency, that you're supposed to be an All-Star, you're supposed to be this or that… But in no way do I play with less desire, it just makes me want to prove that I deserve it.”
Does money take away the notion of passion?
In fact, since his injuries and his big contract, Michael Porter Jr. says basketball doesn't quite have the same flavor anymore. Passion has almost become a job.
“I was given this contract despite the injuries, but money was never an end in itself. I was never someone who wanted a big contract to take it easy. I always wanted to play, I played basketball before my injuries. You know, now it's a little different, and sometimes I feel like it's a job,” admits the Nuggets player. “But I love basketball so much. I would have played for free if I could feed myself. I loved it. So money was never my goal. My goal was to go as far as I could, to be as good as I could.”
While he played 81 games in the regular season, and that's very good news, the winger also experienced serious family turmoil as the playoffs approached and he completely missed his series against the Wolves. As a reminder, in the space of a few days, his brother Jontay, who played for the Raptors, was banned for life from the NBA for a sports betting case, another brother, Coban, was sentenced to six years in prison for causing a serious car accident, while Jevon was arrested on suspicion of drunk driving.
