Shouldn't the Nets have gotten a better return for this? One could argue that they could have. Cam Johnson was arguably the biggest tangible trade chip they had outside of draft picks, and at least until the 2025 trade deadline, NBA Insider Ian Begley and SNY speculated that no team could field a trade package for Johnson's services.
Well, the 2025 deadline has come and gone, and at least one 2026 title hopeful has gone in with an offer to satisfy Brooklyn's brass. Michael Porter, Jr. is now a Net, as well as the Nuggets' 2032 first round pick. But was all of that huffing and hawing over Cam Johnson's value really worth it for a lateral move at best? Certainly not directly.
MPJ has had a down year sure, but even if his and Johnson's counting averages lines up, most Nuggets fans are calling the trade a win for the most part. SB Nation's Ricky O'Donnell gave props to the Nuggets for a solid win-now swing on Cam's much better value. Speaking of, MPJ's services can certainly not be worth it with the additional around $15 million MPJ's contract will cost the Nets' precious cap space. And while Brooklyn has a lot, most would have anticipated the vast bulk of it to go towards making a superstar deal work. If all Brooklyn has to show for it is a single first round pick that they won't even get to use for seven years, what did this deal even really accomplish for them?
Under the surface, Brooklyn is cooking like it's 2019 again
To begin: there's a reason why O'Donnell's analysis of this deal gave the Nets a higher grade than Denver. Because as random as a 2032 first round pick seems on the surface, Brooklyn might have just nabbed Denver's most valuable draft asset: the first of their picks outside of the Jokic era. By 2032, Jokic will have turned 37 and the odds are certain that he will have aged well out of his prime by then. And for teams on the tank going forward, that pick will only become more and more valuable.
Sound familiar yet?
Because it should sound kind of like when Brooklyn dealt franchise legend Brook Lopez and 27th pick Kyle Kuzma to the Lakers for Timofey Mozgov's bloated contract and D'Angelo Russell. No, Cam Johnson isn't a Nets legend, and MPJ didn't destroy his locker room chemistry nor get grossly overpaid relative to his output, but this deal reeks of that energy. Just like back then, the Nets took a flier on unknown potential in exchange for a beloved franchise piece that no longer fit their timeline and the chance for their trade partner to free up cap space.
No, this move wasn't nearly as flashy or sexy as the coming of Kyrie, KD and Harden, nor even the deal that ended Brooklyn's Big Three era by sending KD to Phoenix. But it is patient. It is secure. It means that Sean Marks and the rest of the Nets' front office is willing to truly commit to a full rebuild, if it wasn't already obvious with how they approached the 2025 Draft. The DLo Nets weren't nearly as gifted nor great as the Big Three, but they were certainly much more beloved.
The Nets have seen what superstar chasing gets you in the modern NBA -- once in each of their last two regimes. And even if fans haven't yet understood what they have signaled via their draft strategy and this most recent move, the Nets sure do. The superstars of today can't, and most likely won't, help them. It is time for the Nets to look to the future, to fully commit to their next steps. They see it, and are seemingly back to the shrewd scouting and subtle dealing that was their trademark at the end of the 2010s.
And lord, do I want to go back to that.