Michael Porter Jr. had one goal entering the summer of 2016: he wanted to be the top-ranked high school recruit in the country.
It was a tall task with the likes of Marvin Bagley III, Deandre Ayton and other eventual lottery selections like Mo Bamba, Wendell Carter Jr, and Collin Sexton jockeying for position in the top-10. Porter was firmly entrenched in the top-5 of his class but the top spot eluded him.
Then came the 2016 Peach Jam.
The Peach Jam, if you’re not familiar, is a tournament that serves as the finals for the summer’s most prestigious youth basketball circuit: Nike’s Elite Youth Basketball League (EYBL). It’s one of the top tournaments of the season that features the top players in the country. If Porter was going to climb to the top of the rankings this would be his chance.
During the tournament’s second session in Indianapolis, adversity hit Porter and his Kansas City-based MOKAN Elite team for one of just a few times that summer. Porter struggled in back-to-back games, first against the PSA Cardinals in a rare MOKAN loss and then versus Expressions Elite, a team loaded with blue-chip talent like Boston Celtics guard Tremont Waters, University of Kentucky big man Nick Richards, and Villanova forward Jeramaine Samuels.
He was benched by coach Rodney Perry for his play. Porter was upset at himself but also ticked off at how his coach was using him. Porter was averaging a team-high in field goal attempts and Perry wanted him to continue to be the No. 1 option but also to show off the other parts of his versatile game. In Perry’s view it was Porter’s best pathway to capturing the No. 1 ranking in his class.
“We talked and I said, ‘Mike, you said you wanted to be the No. 1 player in the country. you just coming down and scoring — and we all know you can score — that’s not going to make you the No. 1 player in the country,'” said Perry, who’s currently an assistant coach at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. “‘You’ve got to show you can do other things too. I also want to show your playmaking ability and that you can pass it.’ From that point on he played phenomenal for the rest of the year.”
Porter bought in and later that summer MOKAN captured the Peach Jam championship behind the forward’s well-rounded game. Porter was named the championship game’s Most Valuable Player after shooting 12 of 16 from the field on his way to a game-high 33 points as MOKAN got its revenge on PSA, who was led by Bamba, and scored a blowout 93-65 win. He threw down one highlight-reel dunk after another and connected on a half-court heave right before the second-quarter buzzer.
After the tournament there was a change atop the class of 2017 recruiting rankings. Porter moved into the No. 1 spot.
Porter wouldn’t have risen to the top of the rankings if not for his MOKAN teammate and Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young. Young, like Porter, was a scoring wizards on the AAU circuit and the two formed a formidable 1-2 punch.
“You see how much better he makes players,” Porter said. “Back then I took a lot of pressure off of him and I opened things up for him. He found me in spots I liked the ball. We clicked immediately.”
Porter and Young took home Peach Jam tournament co-MVP honors that summer. They loved sharing the floor, so much so that Porter and Young discussed joining forces the following year at the University of Oklahoma where Young played his freshman season before declaring for the draft. Porter ended up enrolling at Missouri after his father, Michael Porter Sr., landed an assistant coaching job with the Tigers.
“Their chemistry was great,” said Perry. “They always knew where each other was going to be on the court and more importantly when they were going to be there. Trae had a knack for being able to find Mike at any given time.”
Off the floor they were also tied at the hip and on the road Porter and Young were inseparable. They roomed together, eat together, and lived the life of high school celebrity athletes together. Every game MOKAN played that summer was standing room only and Porter and Young signed as many autographs and posed for as many pictures as high school stars as they do now.
Their relationship was hatched following their freshman years of high school when Porter and Young met at a basketball camp. They quickly discovered that they had a natural feel for one another on the court and later on Porter asked Young if he wanted to join MOKAN.
“The rest was history,” Young said.
“We still talk. We talk all the time, at least two or three times a week. He’s like my brother. We’re very close. I’m very supportive of him and he’s very supportive of me.”
Porter had Young’s back early on in the Hawks point guard’s NBA career. Young struggled to shoot the ball in his first three Summer League games prior to his rookie season, going just 12 of 52 (23.1%) from the floor and 3 of 24 (12.5%) from 3-point range. The Hawks also lost all three games.
Instantly, premature questions around Young’s abilities began to circulate. Words like “bust” and “overrated” were quickly attached to Young just a couple weeks into his pro career.
“Hey, I want to say to all you all hating on my guy Trae Young right now, I want you to keep that same energy when he starts killing,” Porter said in a video posted to social media. “He’s going to start killing and all you all hating on him right now are going to eat your words. So keep that same energy.”
Porter’ proclamation proved correct. Young rebounded in the ensuing Las Vegas Summer League and went on to finish second in the NBA’s Rookie of the Year voting. Thirty three games into his sophomore season, Young is averaging 28.8 points per game, the fourth-most points in the league.
“He’s always been there for me,” Young said. “It goes beyond basketball.”
Young has since returned the favor, pumping Porter up on his own social media account as the Nuggets’ rookie has begun to find his footing in Denver.
Three years after they celebrated their EYBL title, Porter and Young shared the floor again. In November, Young’s Hawks came into Pepsi Center and handed the Nuggets one of their most humbling defeats of the season. Young lit the Nuggets up for 42 points while Porter played seven minutes off the bench and tallied one basket.
“That’s a moment we were looking forward to,” Porter said.
Since Atlanta’s win in Denver, Porter’s role has continued to grow for the Nuggets. He drew his first career start last month against the Kings and registered a career-high 19 points against Sacramento on 8 of 10 shooting. Four days later in Indiana, Porter came off the bench to tally a new career-high. He scored 25 points on 11 of 12 shooting to help the Nuggets earn on of their more impressive road victories of the season over a tough Pacers team. Young and Porter meet again Monday in Atlanta as the Nuggets and Hawks face off for the second time this season.
“It’s definitely my most memorable game, to get the win and to be a valuable part of the team during the win,” Porter said after the Nuggets’ victory over the Pacers. “Coach trusting me in some big minutes, and then I was hitting some of my shots and doing some of my moves I used to do. I felt pretty good out there.”
It was a throwback to some of Porter’s vintage performances for MOKAN. Porter used to be the only play who Perry gave the green light to dribble the ball up the floor and start a fast break off a rebound instead of passing to Young first, and Porter initiated the Nuggets’ break often that night.
Porter’s signature moment of the game came in the third quarter when the forward executed his signature 1-on-1 move, a right to left step-back which left his defender Doug McDermott in the dust.
Porter’s step-back, which he perfected years ago with MOKAN, is unguardable due to Porter’s size at 6-foot-10 and how much ground he covers. The step-back helped Porter and Young win countless games together, capture the Peach Jam championship, and then the gold medal for Team USA in Chile at the FIBA U18 Americas Championships that same summer. It also helped Porter achieve his personal goal: to become the top-ranked player in his class.
Four-years later it’s still his go-to move.
“I’ve seen that move a time or too,” Perry said.
