Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. admits that there were moments of doubt when he underwent a third back surgery in five years. Porter was left to wonder “Why me?” as we awaited that third surgery.
“For a lot of guys, that’s career-ending, one of those surgeries,” Porter said. “This is after two of them.
“I thought I had kind of gotten over everything, and now I have to get a third one? I don’t know if anyone’s ever played-especially at my young age-after three back surgeries.
“I was just over it,” he says.
Porter has made it back and has been an integral part of the Nuggets run to the 2023 NBA Finals. But Porter said that’s come from an ongoing commitment to just be able to take the floor.
“All the extra work that most guys have to put in, which is a lot, I’m having to do three times that much just to be able to play,” Porter said, adding: “Basically, my whole life revolves around just trying to be able to stay healthy.”