Michael Porter Jr.'s taken the next step. He's having a tremendous season for the Brooklyn Nets. But the Nuggets had a real big problem last summer, and they couldn't afford to keep him. They were way over the luxury tax threshold, and MPJ was going to be owed a lot of money. They needed to find a trade partner to accommodate his large contract.
Enter the Brooklyn Nets. In the summer of 2025, Porter was traded along with a 2032 1st-round draft pick for Cam Johnson. The trade was the trigger that put the Nuggets back in the driver's seat to navigate their way out of their luxury tax problem.