Michael Porter Jr.‘s season was short-circuited by back surgery but the Nuggets forward said he’s ready to go for next season, Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports tweets.
On an NBA TV interview, Porter said, “I think I’m 100% at this point. It’s a blessing. I feel good. I’m excited to get back on the court and play basketball.”
We have more from the Northwest Division:
- In an interview with ESPN’s Cassidy Hubbarth, Damian Lillard said he’s healthy after recovering from abdominal surgery, Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press tweets. “I wanted to fight through it. … It got to the point where I had to play it smarter,” Lillard said. “… My body is stronger than it was before in certain areas.” Lillard will be signing a two-year max extension with the Trail Blazers.
- In the same interview, Lillard gave a ringing endorsement to the Jerami Grant trade with the Pistons. Reynolds relays in another tweet. “I loved it. That was like the No. 1 thing I wanted to get done,” he said. “Jerami has been on winning teams in OKC and Denver. He brings something to the game that we haven’t had at that position.”
- Vlatko Cancar‘s three-year contract with the Nuggets is worth $6.8MM, ESPN’s Bobby Marks tweets. Cancar signed the contract on Thursday. As previously reported, it includes a team option in the last year.
- Rim protection and rebounding were areas of needs for the Timberwolves. That’s why they were willing to pay a high price for Rudy Gobert, Jon Krawczynski of The Athletic writes. “We gave up a lot. There’s no two ways about it,” president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said. “Tremendous draft capital, really good players, really good guys. But when you’re able to add a guy that’s as good as Rudy and not touch your top two or three players, it’s really, really rare.”