Michael Porter Jr.’s lumbar spine issue lands him on Nuggets injury report

Let’s just hope this is precautionary.

Only four games into Denver’s 2022-23 season, one with championship aspirations, forward Michael Porter Jr. finds himself on the Nuggets’ injury report. He’s questionable against the Lakers on Wednesday night at Ball Arena.

Nuggets injury report vs. Lakers: MPJ is questionable due to lumbar spine injury management. Jeff Green is probable with a finger sprain.

— Mike Singer (@msinger) October 25, 2022

Porter played just nine games a season ago, before yet another back surgery shut him down for the rest of the year. He’s off to a hot start this season, averaging 18 points and 5.3 rebounds per contest. He’s made four three-pointers a game, which has him tied for second in the entire NBA.

But in a loss to the Blazers on Monday night, Porter appeared to tweak his back after a collision with former Nuggets center Jusuf Nurkić. There’s no video of the incident readily available, but several Twitter users noticed something was a bit off. Denver putting Porter on the injury report is a clear indication they’re monitoring the situation.

Is MPJ running weird after that last putback over Nurkic?

— Andy Bailey (@AndrewDBailey) October 25, 2022

Me waiting calmly through halftime to see if MPJ is okay after his Nurkic collision: pic.twitter.com/9LcaD1XykD

— Gordon Gross (@GMoneyNuggs) October 25, 2022

Forget the game—Michael Porter Jr. looked extremely uncomfortable the rest of the game after colliding with Nurkic tonight. Super stiff and moving slow. Like he did at the beginning of last year when he hurt his back.

Hope I’m wrong, but I’m surprised this isn’t a bigger story?

— Nick Hehemann (@NickHehemann) October 25, 2022

We’ll keep an eye on it, but obviously any sort of Porter back injury would be disaster for Denver. The 2-2 Nuggets host the 0-3 Lakers tomorrow night.

The game, with or without Porter, will be on ESPN.

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