Risk vs. reward: Porter Jr.’s NBA draft spot anyone’s guess

Someone is going to gamble on Michael Porter Jr.

He insists it’ll pay off. There is an element of danger involved with every NBA draft pick, in that nothing is guaranteed. There isn’t a player that epitomizes the risk versus reward thinking in this draft more than Porter Jr., who could get taken as high as No. 2 by Sacramento or go several picks lower because of uncertainty surrounding his health.

Back problems that necessitated surgery limited his lone college season to three games at Missouri, and a scheduled Friday workout was called off because of hip spasms. There’s still a chance he will do a workout before draft night and teams have gotten access to new medical information that would seem to suggest he’s ready for the NBA — but still, skepticism may be understandable.

“I’m feeling great,” Porter Jr. said.

Find out Thursday night which team believes him the most.

He’s six-foot-10 and is usually categorized as a power forward, though in an NBA that’s now largely positionless Porter Jr. could wear a lot of hats. He’s already shown a complete skillset — passing, dribbling, shooting — that would translate to playing basically anywhere except centre. He weighed 211 pounds last month at the Draft Combine, meaning there’s still plenty of room on his frame to add strength.

His college highlights are basically nonexistent: Porter Jr. scored 30 points in 53 minutes of action with the Tigers.