Wednesday night, on the eve of the deadline, Porter got down to business and showed again just how valuable he can be. He tied a career-high with 39 points on 16 of 23 shooting, hauled in 12 rebounds and dished four assists in Denver’s 144-119 rout of New Orleans. It was the Nuggets’ fourth consecutive win.

Michael Porter Jr. is keeping his focus on the rim, not the trade rumors. He’s tuned them out, in fact, and turned up his game.