The Denver Nuggets aren’t concerned about a possible MPJ suspension

The Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Clippers got into a big scrum in the middle of Denver’s thrilling 101-99 victory in Game 4 on Saturday, which resulted in six technical fouls being handed out between the two sides. Michael Porter Jr. was not one of the three Nuggets who got hit with a technical from crew chief Zach Zarba, but his role in the scrum is now the biggest storyline heading into Game 5.

James Harden didn’t like Christian Braun’s foul and the Clippers and Nuggets go at it pic.twitter.com/Fxq8brOK2H

— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) April 26, 2025

While Porter didn’t get involved, he left the Nuggets bench area and stepped onto the court, which could subject him to a suspension according to the NBA’s rulebook. Nuggets interim head coach David Adelman did not express any concerns with a potential suspension for his starting forward at Nuggets practice on Monday.

“I understood that [rule] back in the day when fights were actually fights this, I thought Mike made a non-aggressive walk, I didn’t see anything dangerous about it,” Adelman said. “You got guys slapping each other out there … Some of the fights I saw [growing up] scar you for life. So that was just a disagreement between a bunch of guys … You can say whatever you want about it, I know it’s cool, it’s exciting, but I didn’t think anything about that. Michael, all that stuff, there was no danger there.”

Despite playing with one arm after the shoulder sprain he suffered in Game 2, Porter’s presence on the floor is much needed for the Nuggets to win this series. In Game 4, he made four of his seven 3-pointers and played 42 minutes despite only being able to play defense with his right hand. He made tough shots that make his presence valuable on the court, and the Nuggets will need more of that on Tuesday night in Game 5 to take a 3-2 series lead.

As of Monday afternoon, the NBA league office has not made an announcement on Porter’s status for Tuesday.

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