Nuggets' Michael Porter Jr. Shows Promise in NBA Debut vs. Blazers

Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. made his long-awaited professional debut on Tuesday and excelled to the tune of nine points on 4-of-7 shooting in a 105-94 preseason win at the Portland Trail Blazers.

Porter, who was the 14th overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft, missed all of last season following July 2018 surgery of his lumbar spine. He played just three games in his lone season at Missouri in 2017-18 because of a microdiscectomy of the L3-L4 spinal discs in November 2017.

Porter waited a long time to check into an organized contest, per Nick Kosmider of The Athletic:

Naturally, people were happy to see his return, including Atlanta Hawks point guard Trae Young:

He didn't wait long to make an impact.

Porter was smooth from mid-range, knocking down a couple of jumpers:

He also added a layup, dunk and a free throw to round out his nine points.

Early reviews were positive, as Kosmider and Chris Dempsey of Altitude Sports noted:

We'll see what Porter does for an encore Thursday at 10:30 p.m. ET when Denver visits the Los Angeles Clippers.