Nets' Michael Porter Jr. diagnosed with hamstring strain, out 2-3 weeks

C.J. Holmes, New York Daily News on Mar 20, 2026

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NEW YORK — Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. has been diagnosed with a left hamstring strain following an MRI performed Wednesday, a new setback that adds more uncertainty to the finish line of Brooklyn’s season.

Porter is listed as out and will be re-evaluated in two to three weeks, according to the team. He missed his fifth straight game Friday when the Knicks visited Barclays Center, and he’d been designated as dealing with “left hamstring awareness” ahead of his absence Wednesday.

The diagnosis lands at an awkward time for a Nets team already drifting into the draft-lottery portion of its calendar. Brooklyn dropped to 17-52 after Wednesday’s loss and entered Friday with the third-best lottery odds, one game behind the Washington Wizards for second and 2.5 games behind the Indiana Pacers for first. With Porter’s health trending the wrong way and the organization’s offseason goals looming, the possibility of shutting him down for the remainder of the season has started to feel practical.

Porter has been the Nets’ most consistent offensive engine in his first season in Brooklyn. He’s appeared in 52 games, all starts, and is averaging a career-high 24.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, a career-high 3.0 assists and a career-high-tying 1.1 steals in 32.5 minutes per game. He’s shooting 46.3% from the field, 36.3% from 3-point range and 85.9% from the free-throw line.

He also leads the Nets and is tied for 20th in the NBA with 176 made 3-pointers, the most through any player’s first 52 games with the team in franchise history. Porter has made at least five 3-pointers 16 times, which ranks as the third-most such games in a season in franchise history, and he’s tied for 14th in the NBA this season with a career-high 14 games of at least 30 points.

The hamstring issue adds to what has already been a complicated health stretch. Before Wednesday’s game, Nets coach Jordi Fernández said Porter had progressed enough to get through a workout, only to feel something new.

“He had just done form shooting the previous time,” Fernández said. “And yesterday, throughout the workout, his ankle was feeling better. He just felt his hamstring, and we’ve got to make sure we look at it, and we had a plan for it.”

Now that plan includes waiting, reassessing and deciding how much sense it makes to push a key player back onto the floor late in a season that has already shifted toward long-term priorities. If the Nets remain in the same lottery neighborhood in the coming weeks, Porter’s timeline could make the decision for them.