May 31, 2023, on TheRinger.com
https://www.theringer.com/nba-finals/2023/5/31/23742962/michael-porter-jr-denver-nuggets
Michael Porter Jr. lay on a bed in a patient room, staring up at the ceiling, left alone with his doubts and fears.
Not again, he thought. Not again.
He felt as if he were in a dream. A terrible, agonizing nightmare. And he felt intense déjà vu. For good reason: He had indeed been in this exact room, in this exact bed, inside this exact Dallas medical facility—not once, but twice before.
On this afternoon in December 2021, the then 23-year-old had just awakened from an unthinkable third back surgery in five years. The first surgery occurred during his freshman year at Missouri in 2017, in which he played just 53 minutes in three games; the second occurred before the start of his rookie year with the Denver Nuggets in 2018, causing him to miss the entire season. He had barely played basketball for two years. Now he was facing a prolonged absence again. The game he so brilliantly dominated felt like it had been stolen from him, and all he could do was helplessly wonder why.
“Why?” he asked, lying on that bed a year and a half ago. “Why is this happening to me again?” (READ FULL STORY HERE).
Mirin Fader 