Michael Porter Jr Suggests He May Return from Injury This Season in Cryptic Post

Missouri Tigers star freshman Michael Porter Jr. may not be out for three to four months after all.  

On Sunday, Dave Matter of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch passed along a cryptic Instagram post from Porter suggesting the recovery timetable was inaccurate:

This comes after Missouri Basketball announced Porter would undergo a microdiscectomy of the L3-L4 spinal discs and miss that much time. The announcement noted the surgery "will likely cause him to miss the remainder of the season."

The school noted Porter was expected to fully recover at the time of the initial announcement.

"Our top priority as a program is the well-being of our student-athletes, so Michael beginning this process to be 100 percent healthy is important to all of us," head coach Cuonzo Martin said in a statement. "Our focus has been on Michael's well-being, just like every other player in our locker room."

The potential return of Porter would be a significant boost for a Missouri team that is off to a solid 5-1 record in the 2017-18 campaign. The Tigers haven't been to the NCAA tournament since the 2012-13 season, and Porter's presence on the roster was one reason for optimism the streak would end.

Porter was a 5-star prospect and the No. 2 overall player in the 2017 recruiting class, per 247Sports, and can serve as a matchup problem at 6'10" with the ability to break defenders down off the dribble, score down low and shoot from the outside.

In addition to helping the Tigers compete for the NCAA tournament, Porter could answer any lingering questions about his health status leading into the 2018 NBA draft if he returned before the end of Missouri's season.