Michael Porter Jr. to miss remainder of the season

Missouri had high hopes for their basketball team this season, but those dreams took a big hit on Tuesday.

Bad news made it’s way to the Missouri basketball team on Tuesday, as the number two recruit in the country, Michael Porter Jr., is expected to miss the remainder of the season with a back injury.

Porter has only played two minutes this season, and reportedly suffered the injury during warmups of the team’s season opener. He will have a microdiscectomy of the L3-L4 spinal discs in his back.

The recovery time is three to four months. Since we are at the end of November any possible return wouldn’t be until March, and by that time there’s no point for a guy that will most certainly be a lottery pick in next years NBA Draft.

This is extremely unfortunate for Missouri, because the talent they had alongside Porter definitely warranted the hype they were getting this season. They brought in three top-50 recruits this season including Michael Porter’s brother, Jontay Porter who reclassified so he could play with his brother and father who is the head coach.

It’s definitely a bummer for those who never got a chance to see Porter play, because he really is one of the best players college basketball has to offer. He played extremely well in the exhibition game against Kansas at the Sprint Center.

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Now the question is will this be the last we see of Porter in a Missouri uniform? The easy answer is yes, he’s going to the NBA regardless of this injury. If you ask Porter you might not get the same answer. Last month he was asked about possibly staying for his sophomore season, and he said he might spend more than one year in college.

Regardless of his decision, his health is most important and we shall see if actually does decide to stay at Missouri when the time comes.