Michael Porter Jr. doesn’t care much for Trae Young, who regularly drops 30 points, or Brandon Roy, who was one of the most electric players in the league in the second half of anything and is Porter’s former high school coach.
But in reaching the NBA Finals, the Denver Nuggets guard now has at least one thing for both.
When asked who gave him advice during a press conference before the finals, Porter mentioned both of his longtime friends
“Me and Trae Young talked a lot. He’s jealous because I’m in the finals and he only made it to the Eastern Conference finals,” Porter said with a smile. “We talked about it in LA, he came to our last game in LA.”
Porter added while laughing, “Then Brandon Roy, my high school coach, he called me the other day and was just criticizing everything I was doing. I think he’s also jealous because he never made it to the finals.
“He’s seen how my game has developed since my injuries and stuff, so he gives me great advice. A good mentor for me.”
The clip starts around 3:51:
Porter and Young became close friends as they grew up together as elite high school basketball prospects. The two played on the same Nike EYBL team and were on the 2016 FIBA Americas U18 team in Chile. Athletic took a bit of a dip in their relationship in 2019.
Porter was widely considered one of the top two prospects in the 2017 class, while Young was ranked in the 20-30 range in the 247Sports Composite and in the shop’s rankings.
Meanwhile, Roy coached Porter at Nathan Hale High School (Seattle, Washington). With the star forward and former NBA coach, the team went undefeated and won the championship as Roy was named the Naismith National Coach of the Year and Porter enrolled at Missouri. Roy now coaches at his alma mater, Garfield High School (Seattle, Washington).