Denver Nuggets star player and Christian Michael Porter Jr. has a lot to praise God for after the Nuggets defeated the Miami Heat 94-89 during the fifth game of the possible 7-game series of the NBA Championship. It is the first championship game since the 47-year-old team’s founding. Porter scored 13 points and caught 13 rebounds during the final game, making it his best game of the series. Porter had struggled during the series, but Denver coach Michael Malone voiced his confidence in Porter’s abilities in an interview before game 4. “We would not be in this position if it wasn’t for [Porter]. We are not just Nikola and Jamal. We are a basketball team, Michael being a big part of that. As far as his kind of getting back into his groove, I talked to him today about understanding that we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for all the contributions and growth that you’ve shown us throughout this year being healthy. Go out there and play, be aggressive, shoot the ball with confidence and remember, you’re not a specialist. We don’t bring in specialists. Those are guys that are not suited for us,” he said. Porter seems to have listened.

Porter has had a comeback year after facing three back surgeries. Speaking to Andscape after his return game in 2022, he credited his faith in God for getting him through it. “The more I lean on [faith], the more I’m in the word, I’m really letting that be their priority over basketball and being the best, the more basketball and things just come into being,” he said. When asked about the best advice he’d received from a pastor, Porter responded, “It’s not for the approval of people, it’s not for the approval of the coach. You don’t even have to impress God. The thing that I’m learning is there are so many things that are unstable in life. The admiration of people, the admiration of fans. A lot of stuff is fleeting.” He went on to add, “So, I’m learning how to try to get my love from a stable source, which for me is God. So, learning to put that over things that are superchanging and fleeting, like the admiration of fans or what the public says about you, that’s been a big thing that’s brought me peace.” 

Porter certainly had to learn to focus on God when he faced criticism for asking people to pray for the police officers involved in the death of George Floyd in 2020. “As much as you pray for George’s family, gotta also pray for the police officer(s) who were involved in this evil. As hard as it is, pray for them instead of hating them…Pray that God changes their hearts,” he wrote on his Twitter account, which appears to now be inactive. Despite criticism from those who responded with anger against the police, Porter responded, “You’re right; hatred is why George is dead, and so many others before him. That hatred is why our hearts are breaking. That hatred is why I pray to a God of love.”

He has previously spoken about his Christian upbringing on The Crossing Church’s website. “My parents were strict parents. They held us accountable. I remember we had a chart. If you lied, this is your punishment. If you disobey, this is your punishment. But when I stepped on a college campus, I could do what I wanted. And that’s when my faith really became my own. Did I want to be the person that parties all of the time, get drunk, sleeps with a bunch of women, or did I want to be the person that my parents raised me to be?” In an interview with the “Truth Over Tribe” podcast, Porter revealed he hadn’t really come into his own faith until college. “In college, I finally realized I wanted to choose Jesus and God. I want to be known as a [Christian]. I’m not going to be perfect, but that’s what I’m going to choose,” he said.