2019
The 14th overall pick in the 2018 draft, Porter came back from an injury-erased rookie campaign to appear in 55 games (eight starts) for the Nuggets in the pandemic-abbreviated 2019-20 season. He showed plenty of promise in his 16.4 minutes per game, averaging 9.3 points with 4.7 rebounds, 0.5 steals and 0.5 blocks -- good for per-36 averages of 20.4 points, 10.3 boards, 1.1 steals and 1.0 blocks. Porter was efficient all over the floor, shooting 50.9 percent from the field, 42.2 percent from three-point range -- leading to 1.1 made threes per game -- and 83.3 percent from the line. Despite minutes being difficult to come by on a strong Denver team, Porter scored in double digits on 22 occasions, including all eight of his starts. Along the way, he posted nine double-doubles. Most of Porter's most productive games came during seeding play during the Orlando bubble, when he received a stretch of full-time run in the starting lineup. On Aug. 3, Porter put up a personal-best 37 points alongside 12 rebounds, a steal and a block against Oklahoma City. Two days later, he dropped 30 points with a career-high 15 rebounds to defeat the Spurs. All told, Porter averaged 22.0 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.0 steals and 0.9 blocks in the bubble. He went on to serve as a key scorer during the Nuggets' 19-game postseason run to the Western Conference Finals. In Game 2 of the first round against Utah, Porter drew a start and scored 28 points, hitting six threes to go with six rebounds and a block. He ultimately posted 11.4 points with 6.7 rebounds across 23.7 minutes per game in the playoffs.