Could the Nets pay Michael Porter Jr. the max while saving money?

Brooklyn Nets forward Michael Porter Jr. is coming off the best season of his career and while it didn't result in his first All-Star appearance, everyone around the league recognized his impact. Porter, Brooklyn's leading scorer from the 2025-26 season, is eligible for a contract extension and there is a chance that the Nets could pay him his maximum extension while "saving" money.

"Porter is set to make $40.8 million this season. He has eight years of service, making his max for next season $49.5 million. Because they’ll have cap space, Brooklyn can use some of that to bring Porter’s contract up to that max of $49.5 million for next season through a renegotiation-and-extension," Keith Smith wrote for Spotrac. Porter has one year left on his contract and he'll likely be looking for the most money he can get at this stage of his career.

"Do you like Michael Porter Jr. a lot more as a player who makes $30 to $33 million per year than nearly $50 million? You probably do, right? This is where the Nets can use the renegotiation-and-extension rules in their favor," Smith continued. "In a renegotiation-and-extension, teams can use cap space to bring a player up to their individual max salary in the remaining years on their current deal. Then, in the first year of an extension, the salary can drop by as much as 40% from the prior year."

Essentially, if the Nets wanted to entice Porter to stick around, he's already said that he wants to stay in Brooklyn and be a part of the rebuild, they could offer him this contract arrangement. Porter, 27, is heading into the last year of a five-year, $179,299,750 ($35.8 million per year) million contract and it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility that he would want his next contract to be worth more on an annual basis.

For the sake of conversation, if the Nets wanted to ensure that Porter wouldn't be paid more than $33 million per year on his extension, they could add on $8.7 million to the extension to max him out for the 2026-27 campaign. Either way, there is plenty for general manager Sean Marks to figure out over the course of this offseason, but if he wants to make sure Porter is in a Nets jersey next season, there could be a way to do it where both sides are happy.