Michael Porter Jr. isn’t shying away from the size of the jump he thinks the Brooklyn Nets can make next season.
Brooklyn came out of the 2025-26 season near the bottom of the East, finishing 13th at 20-62. The roster had talent, with Porter Jr. and Nic Claxton among the notable names, but the Nets never had enough depth to truly hang around. Even with summer moves in place, the team still doesn’t carry much momentum into the new campaign.
That hasn’t stopped Porter Jr. from talking big about what he believes the new look can become alongside Julius Randle.
During a recent appearance on Neon’s (n3on) livestream, Porter Jr. laid out how he sees the fit working.
“See, he can draw a double-team. Get downhill, draw the double-team, swing it to me, and I can shoot the three.
Like, I think if we get that chemistry right… And all of our young guys from last year got so much better, bro. I don’t know what the expectations are for our team, but we’re definitely going to surpass them.”
When the streamer pressed him on whether Brooklyn could get to 50 wins, Porter Jr. didn’t blink.
“Yeah, I do.”
It’s a bold answer, and it says something about his mindset. For a young group still trying to define itself, that kind of belief matters.
But the roster still has real questions. Brooklyn doesn’t just need more production; it needs a cleaner structure, more punch in the starting five, and enough depth to survive a deep Eastern Conference.
Porter Jr. also made it clear that his own game is being pushed in a different direction now.
On the “Road Trippin’ Show,” he said the workload he carried last season forced him to do more than he had in Denver.
“My energy output this last year was so much higher than in Denver because of how much I was relied on and the defenders I had on me. Every team’s putting their best defender on me. I’m going from Ausar Thompson to Jaden McDaniels to this guy to that guy every game.”
That reality has shaped the goals he’s setting for himself. Porter Jr. said the key is getting into better shape so he can do more damage away from the ball.
“I just think I got to really work on, like Steph does, really being in shape, so all game I can just move off the ball. I think I could be the best off-ball player in the NBA because I’m good at cutting around the rim.
My finishing percentage around the rim is like really high. And then, you know, catch and shoot threes and things like that.
I think if I’m in good shape, I could be the best off-ball player in the NBA. So I think that’s the main thing off the court.”
He also spoke about continuing to sharpen his scoring craft, but the biggest takeaway was his focus on conditioning and movement without the ball.
Last season, Porter Jr. had to create a lot more for himself in isolation, and the numbers backed up the extra responsibility. He averaged a career-high 24.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 3.0 assists per game while shooting 46.3% from the field and 36.3% from three-point range.
Still, his best value has often come when he’s playing off another creator, the way he did in Denver with Nikola Jokic. In Brooklyn, that role could be shaped by Randle and by sophomore guard Egor Demin, giving Porter Jr. a chance to bring that version of his game back into focus. Whether that translates into the wins he’s talking about is another matter entirely.
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