The Denver Nuggets came into the 2025 offseason without many hopes of making big changes to their roster unless they could find a taker for Michael Porter Jr and his sizable contract. On Monday, they did just that by sending Porter Jr. and an unprotected 2032 first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for forward Cam Johnson, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Porter averaged 18 points and seven rebounds last season for the Nuggets, while shooting 39.5% on more than six 3-point attempts per game.
The Nuggets’ desire to turn Porter Jr. into a better two-way fit for the roster was well known, but no one was quite sure if they’d find a team willing to take on the remaining $79 million on his deal. However, the Nets were willing to do so and Johnson seems to be a phenomenal fit for the Nuggets. Prior to being traded to Brooklyn, Johnson excelled in his time in Phoenix playing what figures to be a similar role to what he’ll be asked to do in Denver.
Johnson averaged 18.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game on 48/39/89 shooting splits last season, and will give the Nuggets the kind of 3-and-D wing they crave. Johnson’s time in Brooklyn also gave him a bit more practice as an on-ball creator, but with Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray, that will be a secondary concern to being a sharpshooter to help space the floor around those two stars.
Not only did the Nuggets manage to acquire a quality player in return for Porter Jr., but they also got some significant cap savings, as Johnson makes $17 million less this coming season. That moved them below the tax line and created more flexibility for this year and the future.
The Nets are still in asset acquisition mode, so they’re taking a swing on Porter Jr. in hopes that perhaps he can flourish in a position where he can be a main option offensively, rather than a tertiary one in Denver where he was behind Jokić and Murray in the pecking order. On top of that, they add a 2032 unprotected first round pick that could be extremely valuable, as that will be after Jokić’s prime has ended (he’ll be 37 then) and there are no guarantees the Nuggets will move smoothly into the back end of his career.
The pick could be considered one of the best draft assets in all of the NBA, and will give the Nets a serious trade piece in the near future — or a potentially high pick seven years from now. The Nuggets can’t be all that concerned with the 2032 Draft right now, however, as they need to maximize the present when Jokić is one of the two best players in the league.
There’s a serious argument to be made that Johnson is a considerable upgrade over Porter Jr. and they got the kind of financial flexibility out of this deal to make further tweaks to the roster. Among those is bringing back Bruce Brown on a reported veteran minimum, and they still have more additions they can make this summer. That is some good business from Denver’s new front office and should make them a legitimate contender once again this year in the West.
