Nuggets release update following Michael Porter Jr.'s latest surgery

Nuggets first-round pick Michael Porter Jr. underwent surgery of the lumbar spine at The Carrell Clinic in Dallas, TX, the team announced Thursday. There is no timetable for his return to basketball participation.

The surgery was performed last week, a league source confirmed to BSN Denver.

Porter’s most recent surgery is the second time in the last nine months that the 20-year-old has gone under the knife. In November, the 6-foot-11 forward had a microdiscectomy of the L3 and L4 spinal discs while at the University of Missouri. The surgery caused Porter to miss all but three games of his lone college season and contributed to the former top-ranked player in his high school class falling in the NBA Draft. Both of Porter’s surgeries were performed by Dr. Andrew Dossett in Dallas.

Porter, who the Nuggets selected 14th overall in May, was not included on Denver’s Summer League roster but did join the team in Las Vegas for the showcase.

“I’m going to work my butt off to get to 150 percent,” Porter said shortly after Denver drafted him. “Once that happens, I have no doubt in my mind that the basketball will take care of itself.”

It remains unclear if Porter will be able to play at all during the 2018-19 season. The team was aware that another surgery on Porter’s back was a possibility when they drafted the 20-year-old, a league source told BSN Denver. The Nuggets have stressed repeatedly since selecting Porter that they’re in no rush to get him on the floor. A league source called Porter’s most recent prognosis following his latest surgery “exciting.”

“We’re going to to be patient,” Nuggets coach Michael Malone said at Summer League about Porter. “We’re not going to rush him back, and that’s the luxury we have. We have a very good team coming back. We have a very deep team, so there’s no reason for us to say, ‘Michael’s got to play this year.’ We’re going to give him all the time and treatment he needs to get better, and hopefully he can get back and help us this year.”

Nuggets president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said on draft night that the reward of hitting on a player with his talent outweighed the risk.

“At some point, it becomes a risk-reward ratio,” Connelly said. “He’s an elite talent who without back issues we wouldn’t have had the good fortune of drafting.”