Michael Porter Jr Suggests It's Sometimes Hard To Enjoy Basketball Due To Expectations That He Lives Up To His Max Contract

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It's been a bit of an up and down summer for the Denver Nuggets. It started with a complete choke job in Game 7 of the 2nd Round at home which for some reason has seemed to fly under the radar as if the at the time defending champs blowing a 20 point lead on their own court to end their season wasn't a big deal. Then their 1st round pick in the June draft DaRon Holmes unfortunately immediately tore his ACL in Summer League, then once free agency hit they lost a key piece of their championship rotation when KCP took his talents to Orlando because the Nuggets didn't want to spend what it costs to have a contender in 2024. Jamal Murray looked awful in the playoffs and the Olympics and still does not have an extension, and they now have to pray that THIS is the team that things finally work out with Russell Westbrook.

When you take a step back and look at it all, there seem to be way more "downs" than "ups", and it doesn't look like that's changing anytime soon.

Enter Michael Porter Jr, who had himself quite the quote while making an appearance on Austin Rivers' podcast

“I would have played this game for free as long as I could eat. I loved it… The money sometimes makes it a little bit harder to enjoy the game because with a max contract comes a lot of expectations on consistency, oh you’re supposed to be an All-Star, you’re supposed to be this, that…”

A lot of people are responding to this quote by focusing on the "play for free" part which seems easy to say when you signed a max extension, but that's whatever to me. Everyone says that shit. What I found way more astonishing was his reasoning, stating that things can be harder the more you make because with those contracts come heightened expectations.

Uhhhhhhhh, yeah MPJ. That's the whole point. Last time I checked, nobody forced MPJ to sign his 5/179M extension and I can understand the struggles of dealing with the pressure of living up to that deal, but there's just one thing to keep in mind. Take it away Don Draper!

If you don't want the pressure and the expectations, don't sign the max extension. Given that nobody in their right mind would do that, it's not exactly the best look to sign on the dotted line and then talk about how making all this money makes the game harder because now people expect you to get better and play up to your deal. That's how sports work. Sometimes players can't do it and they get criticized for it. Sometimes players sign the biggest contract in league history at the time and then immediately back it up by winning ECF MVP and Finals MVP

Maybe this isn't fair to MPJ, but it does sound like he enjoys the benefits of having a max deal while not really wanting the responsibility that comes with it. I can understand that he's most likely talking about the mental aspect of now having this target on your back for fans and the media and how draining that can be, but again, that's what this is for

It's not like he was playing under the same expectations before his max deal as he is now, but that's just part of the gig. If he wants to play carefree basketball where there isn't this type of pressure to perform, don't play in the NBA? 

Not to mention, this is also what happens when you find yourself on a contender. People give a shit how you perform, especially in this new CBA world where roster construction is now impossible. If you're going to dedicate 25% of your cap to one player, you need that player to deliver on the court. If they don't, it's a gigantic issue moving forward. The funny part is, that the expectations around MPJ are going to be even higher this season as the Nuggets try and show that their title run wasn't just a fluke season. With KCP gone and the Nuggets bench primarily being young and unproven players, he's going to have to elevate his game on both ends of the floor on a consistent basis. 

Some players look forward to that challenge. They embrace the pressure and become better as a result. Based on that quote, something tells me that might not be on the table for MPJ, but time will tell.