The Nets star is finding himself in a far different situation compared to what he got used to in Denver.
Michael Porter Jr. has many wondering if this season has weighed heavy on him.
Nearly three years after winning the NBA Finals with the Denver Nuggets, his Brooklyn Nets team are vying for a high draft pick. Porter is leading the way in scoring -- but for a team increasing their chances of landing the top pick in the NBA Draft Lottery.
So has this season impacted Porter's mental state?
"MPJ" addressed that via Erik Slater of ClutchPoints after taking the loss to the Dallas Mavericks inside Barclays Center Tuesday.
"This is a new situation that I’ve been in, but no basketball game is meaningless," Porter honestly said via Slater. "It’s all part of the journey."
Yet his journey started with building the Nuggets into a contender alongside Jamal Murray and multiple Most Valuable Player winner Nikola Jokic. Now the 27-year-old plays for a team building for the future.
However, Porter got honest about the big picture vision Brooklyn has.
"This team, we’re not just looking at this year, we're looking at the overall scheme and goals for the next one, two, three, four, five years," he explained.
Here's how Porter really views each game regardless of victory or loss.
"All these games matter for us in terms of growth, continuity and chemistry," he said. "Sometimes it’s hard to focus on that, but we’ve got to come in and work every day and realize it’s a bigger picture."
Yes, the stacks of losses are brand new for a man who owns an NBA championship ring. This roster setup is also new for Porter -- as his more reliable scoring options and facilitators are rookies Nolan Traore and Egor Demin. And if he sticks around past the draft, Porter could become teammates with AJ Dybantsa or even Cam Boozer -- the latter looking more like a stronger Nets fit after taking down No. 1 Michigan.
Porter, though, dropped one last message about how this season has gone.
"At the end of the day, we’re playing basketball, a game we all love to play," he said.
His Nets now sit at 15-42 overall. Brooklyn will return to Barclays to take on one of the Western Conference's best in the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday.
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