CHICAGO _ Michael Porter Jr. sees himself as the best player in the NBA draft.
Do the 76ers agree? If so, would they be willing to trade up to select the Missouri small forward, who missed most of his freshman season because of back surgery?
Porter, who measured 6-foot-9\ without shoes here at the NBA draft combine, is projected to go eighth to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the NBA.com consensus mock draft. He could even become a top-5 selection with strong predraft workouts.
The Sixers, who have the 10th and 26th picks in the June 21 draft, interviewed the 19-year-old this week at the combine. Based on his remarks, one has to assume he believes they would be making a great investment if they moved up to draft him.
"I mean, I played against all these guys," said Porter, who was the 2017 national high school player of the year. "They're all great players, but I'm the best player in this draft."
The Columbia, Mo., native will tell you he's better than the three players battling for the draft's No. 1 pick: Arizona's Deandre Ayton, Real Madrid's Luka Doncic, and Duke's Marvin Bagley.
Ayton, a 7-footer, skipped the NBA combine. Doncic isn't here because his team is participating in the EuroLeague final four, but the guard said this week that he wasn't sure about leaving Europe for the NBA next season. Bagley interviewed only with select teams at the combine.
In addition to the Sixers, Porter said he has met, or plans to meet, with the Boston Celtics, New York Knicks, Charlotte Hornets, Sacramento Kings, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Phoenix Suns, Cavaliers, Atlanta Hawks, Memphis Grizzlies and Washington Wizards at the combine.
He will not participate in on-court workouts here, however. But Porter stressed that his health isn't a concern after returning March 8 in an SEC quarterfinal loss to Georgia. His season concluded one game later with a first-round setback to Florida State in the NCAA tournament.
"I knew I wasn't going to put on a show, or be the Mike that they (NBA scouts) saw a few months (earlier)," he said of his decision to play in those games. "The way I was thinking about it was just, they'll know the player I am in a few months."
Porter played in those two games despite suffering what was believed to be a season-ending lower-back injury in the first half of the season opener against Iowa State on Nov. 10. He had a successful microdiscectomy of his L3-L4 spinal discs.
He first injured his back while being undercut on a dunk during his sophomore season in high school. Porter said he overcompensated while the pain lingered, before playing just two minutes and scoring two points against the Cyclones.
"It was a very minimally invasive surgery," Porter said. "... I feel pain-free, and I feel better than I've felt for a long time."
