Jontay Porter officially declares for the NBA Draft

Maybe you’re the kind of fan who likes to hold on to hope, and maybe you still think Jontay Porter could play some minutes at Missouri before heading off to the NBA. No matter how myopic you were about the odds of Jontay’s return, you likely even knew this day was coming. The day where Porter declared for the 2019 NBA draft:

Text from his statement:

I’ll be declaring for the 2019 NBA Draft. I’d like to sincerely thank everyone who has helped me get to this point in my journey, especially my family, coaches and teammates. Excited for the next step!

Missouri, and many of us here, have been expecting this news. Even with the issue of Porter reinjuring his ACL and having to undergo a second surgery. The Tigers have been planning for the 2019-20 season and have not been expecting Porter to return, if anything I think Porter re-injuring his knee might have further sealed his fate of heading into the NBA early.

As a freshman, Porter averaged 9.9 points, and 6.8 rebounds per game, in helping lead Mizzou back to the NCAA tournament. This year he was expected to be the key player for the Tigers as they looked to return in back to back seasons for the first time since 2013. But a pre-season knee injury derailed his season, and his missing production was too much for an inexperienced lineup to overcome as the Tigers missed out on the tournament for the fifth time in the last six seasons.

The Tigers are still looking to fill Jontay’s scholarship and the most likely target is Eric Williams, Jr. who is on an official visit to Oregon after naming the Ducks and Mizzou in his top two, and visiting Columbia last week. We should have word on a commitment from Williams shortly after his visit to Oregon.