Michael Porter Jr. entered the 2017-18 college basketball season as the second-best overall recruit in his high school class and the second-best overall prospect for the 2018 NBA Draft. Two minutes into his career at Missouri, that all changed.
He limped off the court against Iowa State in the Tigers’ season opener and Missouri later announced that Porter would undergo back surgery. We later learned that the surgery was to repair herniated discs. Even though the surgery was described as “minimally invasive” it kept him off the floor for nearly four full months. He recovered in time to play late in the season, but he looked slower and less explosive.