Michael Porter Jr. and Aaron Gordon enter the new season with high expectations
The Denver Nuggets have been busy this offseason not in terms of adding players to their roster necessarily, but keeping the current talents they have long-term. They not only re-signed Will Barton to a new two-year, $32M deal, but the Nuggets recently signed Aaron Gordon to a four-year, $88M extension and Michael Porter Jr. to a new five-year, upwards of $207M extension.
With Jamal Murray out to begin the season for the Nuggets, as he recovers from an ACL injury suffered in April last season, there is a lot of pressure not only on Nikola Jokic to continue to be great, but for Gordon and Porter Jr. to step up into much larger roles.
Coming over at the NBA trade deadline last year, Aaron Gordon struggled to get anything going offensively for the Nuggets, but he has had a full offseason to get acclimated with their system and Denver expects big things from home moving forward.
In his second full season playing for the Nuggets, Michael Porter Jr. exploded onto the scene, averaging 19.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, and shooting 44.5% from three-point range.
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The 6’10” wing has proven to be an electric scorer with the ball in his hands and one of the best perimeter shooting threats on the wing, hence why the Nuggets gave Porter Jr. a max contract. He will only get the full $207M of this contract if he makes an All-NBA team this season, otherwise, the contract will be worth $172M over five years.
How the Denver Nuggets look to begin the 2021-22 season is a major storyline in the Western Conference because they are coming off a season in which they went 47-25, good enough for the 3-seed in the Western Conference.
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At full strength, the Nuggets is definitely a sleeper contender in the Western Conference, so with Murray out, it will be interesting to see if Gordon and Porter Jr. can replicate his production.
