Mizzou Basketball: NBA mock draft has Jontay Porter landing with 76ers

Jontay Porter didn’t play for Mizzou basketball in the 2018-2019 season, but he still has a good chance of hearing his name called at the 2019 NBA Draft on Thursday.

Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated compiled his 11th mock draft prior to Thursday night’s NBA Draft and he had Jontay Porter of Mizzou basketball landing with the Philadelphia 76ers in the second round at pick 33.

Porter followed in his brother (Michael Porter Jr.)’s footsteps by committing to Missouri prior to the 2017-2018 season. MPJ barely played during that season due to injury, but Jontay averaged 24.3 minute per game as a freshman.

In fact, Porter was arguably the best player on the team that year and Tiger fans were excited when he decided to return for his sophomore season.

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Instead, Missouri fans were left disappointed, as usual, as it was announced prior to the season that Porter would miss the entire campaign due to injury. He then opted to declare for the 2019 NBA Draft rather than return for his junior year.

Going back to the mock draft, Woo had this to say about why he had the 76ers nabbing the Missouri product in the second round,

"The injury history with Porter will undoubtedly scare some teams off, but he would likely have been a first-rounder if he’d been able to put together a healthy season. He’ll be a nice value play anywhere in the second round, and the Sixers can afford to let him get healthy, in hopes of him becoming a viable rotation big. His shooting ability and feel should appeal to them."

I really couldn’t have said it any better myself.

Porter’s injury prone label is going to cost him, much like it cost his brother in the draft last year. The good news is that Philadelphia has talent on their team and that means they can afford to take Porter and let him heal up while they’re still competing for a title.

The 76ers have another injury prone guy on their team by the name of Joel Embiid, but he’s stayed relatively healthy over the last few years and it’s paid off. It’s also no coincidence that the 76ers have been a true contender with a healthy Embiid.

Throw Jontay Porter into the mix of Embiid, Ben Simmons, and whoever else the team adds in round one (they currently hold the 24th spot in the draft) and Philadelphia could be set up nicely for many years to come.

Hopefully Porter hears his name called at some point on Thursday night and if he does, it’d be great to see him really flourish as an NBA pro in the coming years.