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Porter, the 14th pick in the 2018 NBA Draft,
said he hopes to be ready around the start of the season.
"I don't have a date but I'm hoping to be back for the beginning
of the year. Gotta heal up, but I feel great," Porter told ESPN
at the league's rookie photo shoot. "I'm able to get on the
court a little bit right now, do some different things. But my
rehab has definitely been very conservative. They're really
taking it easy with me, being patient with me.
"I finally feel, like, good."
Dr. Andrew Dossett, who also performed Porter's first back
surgery last year, operated on Porter at The Carrell Clinic in
Dallas.
Porter missed all but three games of his freshman season at
Missouri after injuring his back last November, which required
him to have surgery on his L3 and L4 spinal discs.
Nuggets head coach Mike Malone indicated to NBATV last month
that the team wouldn't rush Porter back to the court.
"We understood the risk-reward situation with Michael Porter,
and we felt at 14 he was far too great of a talent to pass up,"
Malone said. "And we're going to be patient. We're not going to
rush him back, and that's the luxury we have.
"We have a very good team coming back. We have a very deep team,
so there's no reason for us to say, 'Michael's got to play this
year.' We're going to give him all the time and treatment he
needs to get better, and hopefully he can get back and help us
this year."
Porter, who turned 20 on June 29, was kept off the Nuggets'
summer league roster but was in Las Vegas to watch games.
A week before the NBA draft in June, Porter canceled a second
pro day workout due to a sore hip, prompting reports that teams
were very worried about his long-term health. Porter said those
concerns were overblown and offered to work out for teams during
draft week upon request, but he still slid to the end of the
lottery before the Nuggets drafted him.
Porter signed his rookie deal with the Nuggets on July 3.
--Field Level Media
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