Missouri Professional Athletes

Porter Jr. and Randle Light Up Brooklyn's Preseason Opener

Two Missouri alumni are already making noise together in Brooklyn — and they've barely played a real game yet.

Michael Porter Jr. and Julius Randle combined for 29 points on 10-of-16 shooting as the Nets crushed the Charlotte Hornets 124-90 in their preseason opener, a dominant performance that had the Brooklyn front office paying close attention. The Nets cycled through all 18 healthy players in the blowout, but the Mizzou duo stood out as the clear anchors of what Brooklyn hopes becomes a legitimate offensive foundation. The team shot a blistering 54.1 percent from three (20-of-37), a number that reflects just how freely the ball moved when Porter Jr. and Randle shared the floor.

The chemistry looked natural rather than manufactured — a promising early sign for a Nets team still searching for its identity. Brooklyn's 2026-27 ceiling, by most accounts, runs directly through how far Porter Jr. and Randle can push each other and those around them.

The Question Behind the Highlight Reel

Not everyone in the Nets organization is simply celebrating, though. GM Sean Marks has been candid about what he needs to see from Porter Jr. this season. Brooklyn is simultaneously trying to develop young pieces like Mikel Brown Jr. and Egor Dëmin, and the question of whether veteran stars like Porter Jr. and Randle help or hinder that development process is a real one. A dominant preseason opener answers nothing definitively — but it at least establishes that the talent is present and willing.

Porter Jr., for his part, enters the season with something to prove. His future in Brooklyn has been described as uncertain, and Marks has made clear that consistency — not just flashes — is what the franchise needs from its former Denver standout. The preseason opener was a promising first entry in that ledger.

Clarkson Lands in New York, Embraces His Role

Across town, a third Mizzou product is settling into a new home. Jordan Clarkson signed with the New York Knicks this offseason, and by all accounts, the move was anything but reluctant. Unlike his previous free agency, which involved buyouts and last-minute calls, Clarkson chose the Knicks deliberately — he had experienced what the organization offered and wanted back in.

He's arrived knowing exactly what his role is, and he's comfortable with it. For a Knicks team built around a competitive core, a seasoned scoring guard off the bench who embraces his function rather than fighting it is exactly the kind of low-drama, high-value addition that wins in the regular season and survives in the playoffs.

Clarkson doesn't need to be the centerpiece in New York. He just needs to be Jordan Clarkson — and after years of leading the charge in Utah, there's something quietly refreshing about a veteran who's made peace with that.

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Three Missouri alumni, two franchises, one week into the preseason — and the Tigers are already leaving fingerprints on the NBA's biggest market and one of its most-watched rebuilds. The next few months will reveal how much that early chemistry and deliberate roster construction actually holds up when the games start to count.

Michael Porter Jr. arrived at Brooklyn Nets training camp this week without a contract extension in hand — and with a refreshingly blunt take on the whole situation.

The former Missouri Tiger, entering the final year of his deal after a career-best 2025-26 season that put him on the fringe of All-Star consideration, acknowledged openly that he still has something to prove to the Nets' front office. "Yeah, of course," Porter said, per ClutchPoints, when asked whether he feels pressure to perform for a new deal. It's a rare admission in a league where players typically project confidence during contract years — and it sets the tone for what figures to be one of the more compelling individual storylines of Brooklyn's rebuilding season.

The numbers, at least, are on Porter's side. His breakout campaign with the Nets — his first after seven seasons in Denver — established him as the team's unquestioned top option. Yet the extension talks have dragged into preseason with no resolution. GM Sean Marks offered little clarity when pressed, providing what The Sporting News characterized as an "unclear update" on negotiations. While Porter is technically eligible for a four-year, $234 million max extension, Yahoo Sports reports that figure was never a realistic starting point for either side.

The stalemate is complicated by a subplot Porter himself created. Earlier this offseason, the 28-year-old admitted on his podcast that he lost motivation after missing out on the All-Star team, with nothing left to play for in the regular season. That confession drew a sharp public response from Warriors star Draymond Green, who issued what ClutchPoints described as an "ominous warning" — the kind of sound bite that tends to follow a player into contract negotiations.

Porter pushed back on the framing, insisting he doesn't play "for money," but the sequence of events gave Brooklyn's front office legitimate cover to slow-walk any extension talks. For a rebuilding franchise, leverage matters.

On the court, Porter is betting that a revamped supporting cast will sharpen his résumé. The Nets added Julius Randle in the offseason, and Porter told Sports Illustrated he expects the spacing to improve significantly — more wide-open looks, cleaner angles, better counting stats. If he's right, a strong first half could reopen the extension window or, alternatively, make him a sought-after trade asset at the deadline.

Jordan Clarkson, Still in New York

Porter isn't the only Missouri alum worth tracking this week. Guard Jordan Clarkson re-signed with the New York Knicks this offseason as part of the core that won the NBA Finals, per ClutchPoints. Clarkson figures into Mike Brown's rotation as a proven scoring option off the bench — a familiar role for the former Tiger who has carved out a long NBA career on the strength of his shot creation. The Knicks' championship window is wide open, giving Clarkson a genuine shot at his first ring.

For Mizzou alumni watching the NBA this season, the stakes don't get much higher than what Porter faces in Brooklyn — a contract year that will define where he lands next, and whether the Nets see him as a cornerstone or a commodity.

Missouri's NBA alumni class isn't deep, but it's loud this preseason. Two Tigers — Michael Porter Jr. and Jordan Clarkson — are generating real noise heading into the 2026-27 season, for very different reasons.

MPJ Cracks ESPN's Elite Tier in Brooklyn

Michael Porter Jr.'s trade to the Brooklyn Nets looked like a lateral move on paper. The early preseason rankings suggest otherwise. ESPN slotted Porter inside its NBA Top 100 — landing him in the top 60 — as Brooklyn leans on him and Julius Randle as the cornerstones of a franchise trying to claw out of the league's basement.

The pairing of two versatile forwards as Brooklyn's lead offensive duo is an intriguing bet. Both Randle and Porter arrived via surprise trades within the last 15 months, giving the Nets a retooled identity built around two veterans who, individually, have shown All-Star capability. For Porter, cracking the top 60 is a signal that the broader basketball world still views him as a legitimate difference-maker — even in a market, and on a team, far from the spotlight he had in Denver.

Whether Brooklyn can build enough around that duo to matter in the Eastern Conference standings is the open question. But Porter's placement affirms that his individual stock remains high heading into the season.

Clarkson Embraces a New Role in New York

Jordan Clarkson's move to the Knicks comes with both opportunity and weight. According to Sports Illustrated, New York had a busy offseason week that reshaped roster expectations — and Clarkson is now under pressure to step into a reinvented role for a franchise that demands production and accountability.

The Knicks lost key contributors from last year's playoff run, and Clarkson — a proven scorer and bench igniter throughout his career — will be expected to help fill that void. The pressure is real: New York's fanbase and front office don't reward transition-year patience, and Clarkson's ability to adapt to whatever role head coach Tom Thibodeau carves out for him will define whether the move looks like a smart pickup or a roster gamble by season's end.

Clarkson has always been at his best with the ball in his hands and freedom to create. How much of that he gets within New York's structured offense will be worth watching from opening night.

The Bigger Picture for Mizzou

Porter and Clarkson are the headliners, but Missouri has a quietly broad NBA footprint in 2026 — with Tamar Bates in Utah, Kobe Brown in Indiana, D'Moi Hodge in Los Angeles, Jontay Porter in Toronto, and John Tonje in Portland all on active rosters. None are generating the same preseason volume as the two headliners, but the Tigers' sustained presence across the league is notable for a program not historically synonymous with NBA production.

For Mizzou alumni watching this season, the MPJ-Clarkson storylines are the ones to track. Both players are entering pivotal years — one trying to prove he can lead a rebuild, the other trying to prove he can thrive in the sport's biggest market.

The Stakes Have Never Been Higher for Michael Porter Jr.

Missouri's most prominent NBA alumnus is walking into the 2026-27 season with more scrutiny — and more confidence — than he's ever carried at once. Michael Porter Jr., now entering a contract year with the Brooklyn Nets, is coming off a career-best season that earned him a No. 15 ranking among all NBA small forwards by HoopsHype, whose Frank Urbina noted Porter Jr. "made a charge at first-time All-Star honors in 2025-26, falling just short of achieving that." For a former lottery pick whose early career was defined by injury caution, landing on a league-wide positional ranking is a meaningful mile marker.

But Porter isn't letting the moment make him conservative. Quite the opposite.

Despite Brooklyn finishing 20-62 last season, Porter has publicly predicted the Nets will win 50-plus games in 2026-27 — a turnaround of 30 wins that landed him squarely in the crosshairs of NBA Twitter and earned him a round of brutal mockery online. The optimism isn't entirely groundless: the Nets drafted Mikel Brown Jr. sixth overall in the 2026 NBA Draft and acquired Julius Randle from the Minnesota Timberwolves in a notable offseason addition. The fit between Porter's volume scoring and Randle's 20/5/5 profile is a legitimate question, but Porter is betting on synergy, not caution.

The pressure to produce is real. Porter is expected to be the offensive focal point in Brooklyn, and he's been putting in the work to expand his arsenal ahead of a season where his next contract is very much on the line. One humbling checkpoint came during an offseason workout with Klay Thompson, which, per ClutchPoints, served as a reminder of how sharp Porter still needs to sharpen his game. He's also been outspoken off the court — dismissing the post-LeBron Lakers as unimpressive, and sharing an anecdote about seeking dating advice from former teammate Nikola Jokic, who apparently did not respond.

The Jokic story is amusing; the contract situation is not. Porter Jr. has all the tools to cash in on his best-season momentum — the size, the shooting, the pedigree. Whether a 20-win Nets roster can provide the wins and visibility he needs to maximize his market value is the uncomfortable variable.

The Rest of Mizzou's NBA Roster

Beyond Porter, Missouri has a scattered footprint across the league heading into the new season. Jordan Clarkson, now with the Knicks after their championship run, continues to add to a resume that includes cultural cachet — his runway appearance this offseason made news alongside teammate Jalen Brunson's family moment. Kobe Brown is with the Pacers as a shooting guard, while Tamar Bates finds himself on the Jazz roster. John Tonje is with the Trail Blazers, and D'Moi Hodge remains with the Lakers — the same Lakers Porter Jr. was just dismissing publicly.

For Missouri fans, though, this is Porter's season to watch. He's the one with the most to prove, the most to gain, and apparently the most to say. The 50-win prediction may be wild. The hunger behind it is unmistakably real.