The Nets Are 3-0 and Averaging 123 Points — and Still Haven't Paid Michael Porter Jr.

Three preseason games, three wins, 369 total points. Brooklyn has beaten Charlotte 124-90, taken down a Philadelphia team making LeBron James' Sixers preseason debut 114-108, and gone to Washington and won 131-122. The offense hasn't just been functional; it has been the loudest thing the Nets have done in years.

And yet the story that will define this season has nothing to do with October.

The Porter negotiation is the season

Michael Porter Jr. is entering the final year of his contract without an extension. Reports back in September framed the two sides as being at an impasse, with one rival executive floating the possibility of a trade. Porter's own framing has been notably honest — he has said openly that he has more to prove to earn the deal he wants, and that he doesn't hoop "for money."

That is a strange thing for a team to carry into a season in which Porter is its best player. He averaged 24.2 points and 7.1 rebounds across 52 games last season, shot 46.3% from the floor, and landed at No. 15 in HoopsHype's small forward rankings after a career year that put him in All-Star conversations. That's a legitimate lead option — one who is simultaneously auditioning for Brooklyn's front office and for the other 29.

The on-court risk is obvious. Porter closed last season averaging 22.2 points but on 40.2% shooting and 30.2% from three over his final five games, with a minus-8.4 plus-minus. If the contract situation curdles, the Nets are asking a 6-foot-10 forward on an expiring deal to stay engaged through what the market expects to be another long winter.

Randle is the counterweight

The other half of Brooklyn's new-look frontcourt arrived as a salary dump — a three-team deal that sent Nic Claxton out and brought Julius Randle in from Minnesota, plus a future first-round pick. Randle averaged 21.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and 5.0 assists over 79 games last season, and he has been outspoken about wanting to silence doubters back in New York.

In the preseason opener, Porter and Randle combined for 29 points on 10-of-16 shooting while the Nets went 20-of-37 from three as a team. That chemistry is the entire thesis of this roster. If those two work together, Brooklyn has a functional offense; if they don't, the Nets are exactly what they were last season.

What last season actually looked like

Context matters here. Brooklyn went 20-62 with a minus-10.0 point differential, scoring 105.9 while allowing 115.9. The team's power rating pegged it as the worst in the league by a wide margin at a minus-15.88 rating. Fan polling reflected that pessimism: 58% of Nets Daily respondents projected an 11th-to-15th seed finish, 36% saw a play-in path, and just 6% expected a guaranteed playoff berth. Even the friendliest market view, a 24.5 win total, implies a meaningful step forward but not a good team.

So the 3-0 preseason is a vibe, not evidence. Charlotte sat Kon Knueppel, Brandon Miller and Coby White in that opener. Preseason rotations don't project to February.

The real variable is Egor Demin

Buried under the Porter story is the one development that could change Brooklyn's trajectory regardless of how the extension plays out. Demin, the No. 8 pick who was widely mocked on draft night, averaged 10.3 points and 3.3 assists in 25.1 minutes as a rookie, and he spent the summer rebuilding his body. He posted six points and five assists in 18 minutes in the preseason opener, then said he's "even better right now" and ready to make a "humongous jump."

If Demin is real, the Nets have a young core worth building around — and far less pressure to overpay a forward on an expiring contract. If he isn't, Brooklyn's entire offseason plan funnels back through a negotiation that hasn't produced a signature all year.

The wins are nice. The clock on Porter is the part that will decide what this season means.