Why the Time is Now for a Michael Porter Jr.-Nets Contract Extension

For months, Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks has preached flexibility when it comes to both trade assets and cap space. In the midst of a rebuild, he has emphasized saving money and having enough draft capital to eventually use when the time is right.

Well there’s no time like the present.

As bad as Brooklyn’s record was (20-62), Michael Porter Jr. had legitimate buzz as an Eastern Conference All-Star, which speaks volumes to his efficiency as a pure scorer. But this has made a contract extension that much tougher for the Nets.

Brooklyn, in the midst of its last true offseason task, will have to figure out the best plan forward regarding its star forward. Porter is coming off a career year in which he averaged 24.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 1.1 steals per game on 46-36-86 shooting splits.

It’s one thing to put up 24 points a night on poor shooting, but the 28-year-old did so on impressive percentages, which warrants respect as a high-impact player. Just watching Nets basketball last season, it was clear Porter raised their floor when on the court.

However, Brooklyn isn’t as desperate to improve as some of its other East competitors. The team is still so young, with a nucleus of Egor Dёmin, rookie Mikel Brown Jr. and others from the 2025 NBA Draft. Porter and newly acquired Julius Randle should (hopefully) keep this group out of the ‘relegation zone.’

So that in itself makes things a bit tricky when navigating a Porter contract extension. But there’s more. It would be in the best interest of all parties for the Nets to hand the 6-foot-10 forward his extension by Tuesday. Brian Lewis of the New York Post presented the significance.

The upcoming season’s deadline is expected to be Feb. 11.

Due to the quirks of the CBA, that does make this Tuesday worth watching.

If Porter gets an extension — with a raise of 5 percent or more than two additional seasons — then he can’t be traded for six months.

And if the Nets renegotiate his contract, he also can’t be moved for six months.

That means if Marks plans to do either of those things with Porter, he’d either have to do them by Tuesday, otherwise the forward couldn’t be traded until next summer.

Brian Lewis, New York Post

Porter is set to make $40.8 million this season, which translates to about 24.7% of the cap. Of course, simply handing over that raise to eat up a greater percentage doesn’t appear to be the most attractive move, given Brooklyn’s timeline. But that’s certainly better than stalling past Tuesday.

If the Nets get the deal done, they’ll have insurance for a potential trade by this season’s deadline. Assuming Porter has a similar year in production, they should get good interest from around the league leading up to February.

What’s more is that if the organization does view Porter as a long-term asset, the extension would lock him in Brooklyn.

However, as Lewis noted, signing the extension after Tuesday limits the flexibility that Marks has stood on for so long. The Nets have no hard deadline to get the extension done, so they could scrap it altogether and allow Porter to hit unrestricted free agency or trade him before the deadline.

It’s a slippery slope, but the easiest way to limit complications is for both sides to agree on an extension before Tuesday.

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