Nets Teammates Rave About Michael Porter Jr.: 'That's What All-Stars Do'

Michael Porter Jr. turned in a great performance in the Brooklyn Nets' 114-106 win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday, putting up 28 points on 9-of-20 shooting.

Porter scored 25 of those points in the first half, but Egor Demin noted how Porter's gravity opened other teammates for clean looks even when he wasn't actively putting the ball in the hoop.

"The gravity he brings, and what he can do under that type of pressure that teams are putting on him, obviously to try to stop him," Demin said. "It's incredibly important for this team. The gravity helps us a lot to get to the lane and find open shots, and also, we're obviously trying to play a lot for him, and find him because he's one of those guys I've been talking about like Tyrese Maxey or whoever it is whose really hard to stop one-on-one, so they have to really try to stop him with a whole five."

MPJ ties his season-high in a first quarter with 14 points.

VOTE MPJ ⭐️ https://t.co/2uadYF7hez pic.twitter.com/JmqMmfbT0a
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) December 24, 2025

Porter was curling off of screens, hitting pull-up and catch-and-shoot 3-pointers, and fighting through contact on strong takes to the rim, showcasing his entire bag of tricks.

"Even knowing who Mike is, some of those shots are like 'man, what has just happened,'" Demin said. "Some people can think that people can get mad at somebody who's shooting shots like this because sometimes they make no sense, but we know Mike can make them, so we trust him with that, and we really believe he can make those shots as he did, as he has been doing it. So, we support him a lot to keep doing his job, and keep being Mike, so sometimes it's obviously mindblowing, but that's what he's doing."

Porter has developed a nice rapport with many of his teammates, especially Nic Claxton, as both connected on a sweet alley-oop in the fourth quarter. Given Brooklyn's underwhelming record, some might be hesitant to name Porter an All-Star, but Claxton seems to have his back on that sentiment.

"That's what All-Stars do," Claxton said. "They come out and they play extremely hard every single night. They demand double teams, they make their teammates better, they make the game easier for everybody else. So he was really good for us tonight getting us going, especially in the first half, and that's what we expect from him every night.

"You gotta let MPJ be MPJ and take whatever shot he want. He made some crazy shots over like double teams, it don't matter. Only thing he sees is the rim."