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UPDATE: Jan. 7, 10:48 p.m. — Porter faces an additional 10-day quarantine due to health and safety protocols, The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported late Thursday night. So looks like we’ll continue to see plenty of Will Barton and JaMychal Green for Denver.
Denver Nuggets forward Michael Porter Jr. is facing a minimum of 10 additional quarantine days due to health and safety protocols, league sources tell @TheAthleticNBA @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 8, 2021
UPDATE: Jan. 7, 3:17 p.m. — Porter has now been ruled out for Thursday’s game vs. the Mavericks. It was reported on Wednesday that Porter had been cleared to return to the team and would be available to play against Dallas. That is not the case and he will remain out of the lineup. So Barton should get another start for the Nuggets, who are favored by 3 points at home against the Mavs.
UPDATE: Jan. 6, 2:46 p.m. — Porter is available to play in Thursday’s game vs. the Dallas Mavericks after being in health protocols and quarantined for the past week or so. So with Porter likely to rejoin the starting lineup, we should see Will Barton head back to the bench.
Denver Nuggets SF Michael Porter Jr. will remain out of the lineup Tuesday vs. the Minnesota Timberwolves. He was placed in health protocols on Jan. 2 and it was reported he’d be missing multiple games due to Covid-19 tracing. Porter was held out of Friday’s game vs. the Suns and Sunday’s game vs. the T-Wolves. The Nuggets have been starting Will Barton in place of Porter. Denver could use Porter back with the team at 2-4 and towards the bottom of the Western Conference.
Over the past two games without MPJ, the Nuggets have used an interesting rotation of guards. JaMychal Green is the only forward getting minutes off the bench with Barton starting. Behind him, it’s Monte Morris, PJ Dozier and Facundo Campazzo soaking up bench minutes. The extra usage from MPJ being out has elevated Jamal Murray a bit after he slumped to start the season. Murray has 30-plus points in back-to-back games with Porter out of the lineup.
Barton hasn’t done much scoring despite the added shots and minutes. This has forced coach Mike Malone into using the heavy guard rotation. Green has outplayed Barton so far with MPJ out, so he’s the guy you’d want to target in fantasy basketball. Barton has a high ceiling but it isn’t happening so far.