Michael Porter Jr.: 'Everything Is Going Smooth' in Nuggets Contract Extension Talks

Michael Porter Jr. is scheduled for restricted free agency in 2022, but, to hear him tell it, he and the Denver Nuggets are working toward another deal.

"Everything is sounding great, in the direction that I'd like to be headed," Porter said, per Mike Singer of the Denver Post. "Nothing is set in stone, but everything is going smooth as far as that goes."

In December, the Nuggets picked up his option for the 2021-22 season.

What's more, president of basketball operations Tim Connelly told Singer in June the team prefers to sign players to extensions early in their deals and suggested Denver may look to do the same for Porter.

That shouldn't come as much of a surprise. After all, he is just 23 years old and has already established himself as a key piece of the team's core alongside Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray.

His ability to shoot from the outside works particularly well given Jokic's excellent passing skills and how much attention the reigning MVP draws almost every time down the court.

There was a time when Porter was seen as a risk after the Nuggets selected him with the No. 14 pick in 2018, as he missed all but part of one game of his lone collegiate season at Missouri because of a back injury. That risk was only exacerbated when he missed his rookie season to recover from back surgery.

Instead, Porter looks like a promising young building block after he averaged 19.0 points and 7.3 rebounds per game while shooting 44.5 percent from deep during the 2020-21 season.

He was a primary reason Denver reached the second round of the playoffs and finished with the third-best record in the Western Conference last season. Perhaps the next time he takes the floor it will be with a new extension.