Michael Porter Jr. will likely miss the rest of his freshman season following his microdiscectomy.

Porter is still expected to be a top pick in the 2018 NBA draft.

NBA executives are mixed on how Porter's injury will impact his future.

“If it’s a standard microdiscectomy, it shouldn’t be much of an issue (lots of those procedures on NBA players),” one general manager said Sunday via text. “If it’s more than that, the result could be of greater impact. If he can do a few draft workouts, he should be just fine. It may play out like the (Joel) Embiid draft where Joel was affected by a couple picks (because of the foot), but not much beyond that.”

Another executive was more pessimistic.

“No doubt it hurts him,” the exec said. “Obviously the medical evaluation will be more important and often times as we know, the agents with players at this level withhold information from most of the teams so it will be an interesting decision as to how they handle. Backs are like knees and serious foot/ankle injuries. Tough ones.”

Porter will compete with Luka Doncic, Marvin Bagley Jr. and DeAndre Ayton for the top draft slots.

“It depends obviously on the outcome of the procedure and level of rehab success,” another GM said. “But it would take a real problematic situation to cause a big draft slip. He should stay well inside the Top 5.”

Said another longtime personnel man: “he will still be a top five pick but might not go number 1 now. Almost like Embiid. If he were healthy, he would have been number 1 but with injury went 3. It depends where the gap is from top tier to next tier. If teams see 5 guys at the top he goes 5. If they see 3 guys he goes 3.”

And another: “it’ll be hard to take him #1, but unlikely he drops out of top 5 IMO.”

Michael Porter Jr. will undergo a procedure called a microdiscectomy of the L3-L4 spinal discs, the team confirmed Tuesday.

The expected recovery time is three to four months.

Porter will likely miss the rest of his freshman season. Porter played only two minutes before suffering an injury.

Porter entered the season expected to be a top pick in the 2018 draft. 

Michael Porter Jr. will miss his third straight game on Monday as he continues to deal with a lingering leg injury. Missouri has been vague about the injury and Porter's status moving forward.

Adam Silver and Michele Roberts met with the new Commission on College Basketball.

Silver and Roberts delivered the league and union perspectives on issues facing the basketball industry, including ways that changing the dynamics of the NBA draft could impact their products.

The NCAA ultimately has no formal say in rules governing the league's early-entry rules.

The commission is chaired by Condoleeza Rice.

The union has long wanted players able to enter the NBA draft out of high school, but they ceded that in the 2006 collective bargaining agreement.

Silver told ESPN's Mike & Mike last month that the one-and-done rule is "clearly not working for the college game."

Michael Porter Jr. tweaked his hip after less than two minutes of play during his debut game for Missouri.

Porter is expected to be one of the top picks in the 2018 NBA Draft.

Cuonzo Martin said Porter was held out as a "precaution." According to a team spokesman, Porter tweaked his hip during warmups and aggravated the injury during the game.

Porter held ice on his left hip during the first half.

R.J. Barrett has announced he will attend Duke as an incoming freshman in 2018.

Barrett is expected to be one of the top picks in the 2019 NBA Draft.

Barrett recently reclassified from the class of 2019 to 2018.

Barrett attends Montverde Academy in Florida and is a native of Canada.

While the 2017 NBA draft class has tremendous depth, the 2018 class has more franchise player potential prospects in Luka Doncic, Michael Porter Jr., Marvin Bagley and DeAndre Ayton.

“Any one of them in the top four next year would have gone first in this year’s draft,” one longtime NBA scout told The Undefeated. “That’s not a knock on this year’s draft, nor is it saying it wasn’t good. It had a lot of depth in it, more than next year will. There is no one in this year’s draft that could be a franchise player, but there is a couple in next year’s draft.”

Porter enters his freshman season at Missouri as the highest rated college basketball prospect.

“High skill level as a passer and a shooter for a guy his size," said an NBA scout. "Superb ball handler in the open floor. Possesses an above-average basketball IQ. The game comes easy to him, which allows him to make it easy for others.”

Jonathan Givony released his initial Top 100 for the 2018 NBA Draft, headlined by Luka Doncic, Michael Porter Jr. and Marvin Bagley III.

Top-25
1. Luka Doncic
2. Michael Porter Jr.
3. Marvin Bagley III
4. Deandre Ayton
5. Mohamed Bamba
6. Miles Bridges
7. Robert Williams
8. Collin Sexton
9. Jaren Jackson Jr.
10. Wendell Carter Jr.
11. Trevon Duval
12. Bruce Brown
13. Lonnie Walker
14. Kevin Knox
15. Justin Jackson
16. Dzanan Musa
17. Troy Brown
18. Hamidou Diallo
19. Mikal Bridges
20. Chimezie Metu
21. Mitchell Robinson
22. Rodions Kurucs
23. Nick Richards
24. Nickeil Alexander-Walker
25. Emmanuel Akot