Michael Porter Jr. Injury Reports Were 'Exaggerated a Lot,' Is Feeling Good
Missouri Tigers star Michael Porter Jr. allayed any fears about his health with the 2018 NBA draft approaching Thursday night.
Porter raised some alarms when ESPN's Jonathan Givony reported he canceled a workout for a group of NBA teams, citing a strained hip. During an interview Monday on ESPN Radio's The Will Cain Show, Porter said the whole situation was "exaggerated a lot":
"It was just a little sore, so I told [my agent] my hip was kind of sore and he just wanted to shut it down for a couple of days. And then people took that and kind of ran with it, saying, you know, my hip was injured, I couldn't get out of bed. ... None of that was really true. I was just sore and I wanted to take a couple of days off. So that's all that was."
Porter played a total of 53 minutes in his only season at Missouri.
He left the Tigers' season-opening victory over Iowa State on Nov. 10 after two minutes. Missouri announced Nov. 21 Porter was suffering from herniated disks in his back and would undergo surgery that left him out of action until the team's regular-season finale.
Porter told Cain he hasn't experienced any subsequent problems, nor have doctors warned him about the possibility of re-injuring his back.
Despite the questions hovering around Porter entering the draft, he's a near-lock to be a lottery pick and may even climb into the top five.
Bleacher Report's Jonathan Wasserman projected him to go seventh overall to the Chicago Bulls. He noted Porter would give Chicago a dynamic frontcourt duo in Porter and Lauri Markkanen that would get fans excited about the future of the franchise.
