The Nets may be nearing a real decision point with Michael Porter Jr., and Tuesday could be the first clear signal about where this is all headed.
Brooklyn can keep working on Porter’s expiring $40.8 million contract all the way up to next July’s free agency, so there isn’t a hard stop on the calendar. But because of the quirks of the CBA, this Tuesday matters.
If the Nets give Porter an extension - one that includes a raise of 5 percent or more than two additional seasons - he becomes untradeable for six months. The same goes if Brooklyn renegotiates his contract.
So if Sean Marks wants to do either, it has to happen by Tuesday, or Porter can’t be moved until next summer.
That’s why the next few days are worth watching.
Porter, 28, is coming off a strong season in which he posted 24/7/3, a career high, and Brooklyn already turned away trade offers at the February deadline. If nothing changes before the deadline and he keeps producing at that level, he’d still be a useful piece for a contender. But the Nets have repeatedly sounded like a team that wants to keep him, even if the details remain unsettled.
“I’m sure we’ll have those discussions,” Marks said at the end of the Vegas Summer League. “We value him a lot.
He had a terrific year last year, arguably his best year as a pro. I give him a lot of credit for that.
“I also give Jordi [Fernandez] and the coaching staff a heck of a lot of credit for putting him in places where he can have that type of success. It’s been great to see what Mike’s done for us. So I look forward to having those discussions, and just seeing what Mike can do the rest of the summer and the rest of the season…
“As I said before, I love Mike, the guy, the person, the player, and I hope he is part of this team. But we’re just gonna have to have those discussions between the two of us and our representatives and go from there.”
Porter’s camp has been saying similar things, and Porter himself has been complimentary about the organization. Still, this is the NBA, where money and flexibility usually win the argument. League-wide, teams are leaning toward shorter deals unless they’re trying to lock in a true superstar.
Since June 19, Porter has been eligible for a four-year, $234 million deal, which would carry an average annual value of $58.5 million. That number does not appear to be in play. If Brooklyn and Porter do reach an agreement, it may need to be creative, and his agent, Mark Bartelstein, has a reputation for finding solutions inside the CBA’s fine print.
The most discussed possibility is a reshaped contract that uses Brooklyn’s remaining $4.9 million in cap space to give Porter an immediate bump this season, taking him to $45.7 million, then adds a multi-year extension that could start at around $35 million in 2027-28. The length of that extension would be the central issue. Even with that structure, Brooklyn would still have a $9.4 million room MLE and sit roughly $10 million below the luxury tax line.
Porter also offered a reminder this week that his long-term outlook may be shorter than some players’ in the league. He said he still deals with a back issue from college, and once he settles into family life, basketball won’t be the center of everything.
“When we start having kids, I don’t want other people really raising my kids,” Porter said on the “Girls, Disrupted” podcast. “But the thing is, I don’t want to play basketball for 10 more years.
I want to be done in the next five, six years. So then, during that time, I’m fine being home a lot.
I’m a chill dude. I want to raise my kids.”
That sounded like a player thinking long term, even if the next step is still unclear.
If Porter were to leave, Brooklyn would have a tough time replacing what he gives them offensively. Finding 24 or 25 points per game isn’t simple, and any trade return would likely come in the form of draft assets, something the Nets already have plenty of. Porter has also become more than just a scorer in Brooklyn; he’s been a mentor and leader for the younger players, which has turned into an unexpected plus for the team.
Even with all the uncertainty, the signs still point toward Brooklyn wanting to hold onto him. In June, the Nets traded Nic Claxton to add another high-scoring forward, Julius Randle, as they tried to spark Jordi Fernandez’s offense. Porter and Randle both bring plenty of proven NBA production, with Porter having started on a championship team and Randle arriving as a three-time All-Star and two-way All-NBA selection with something to prove after the Knicks moved on from him for Karl-Anthony Towns at the start of training camp in 2024.
So Tuesday may not bring a final answer. But it should tell us a lot about where the Nets and Porter are headed.
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