When the Nets traded Cam J0hnson for Michael Porter Jr. and the Denver Nuggets unprotected first rounder in 2032, there was much weeping and gnashing of teeth. Renting of garments. The whole biblical megilla. No excess verbiage was squandered. It was b-a-d, double-bad, bad.
Who can forget Bill Simmons? He seemed actually angered by the move.
“Did they have to even put Cam Johnson in the trade?” the Ringer founder said on his podcast. “I just think that trade, the more I thought about it over the last
five days, is one of the worst trades of the decade. You have to attach a pick to get rid of Porter, and I also didn’t get anything for Cam Johnson? Nothing?”
Simmons also called the Nets situation among the league’s “bleakest.”
That latter conviction is still up for debate and on Monday, ESPN’s Zach Kram laddressed the former and included it on his list of “the 10 best and 10 worst moves” of the season, stretching back to the 2025 Draft. And there at No. 4 on the “best” side not the “worst” was the MPJ trade!
Why it’s on the list: Brooklyn traded Cameron Johnson to Denver for Porter and a 2032 first-round pick, and Porter has significantly outplayed Johnson this season. So Brooklyn got the best player in the trade and a future unprotected pick to add to its vast war chest.
Despite a massive increase in usage rate — Porter ranks 12th among qualified players this season with 30.4% usage, while his previous career high was 22.7% — on a worse team, Porter’s efficiency hasn’t dropped much. All those extra opportunities have boosted his scoring to a career-high 24.2 PPG, 5.2 points above his previous best.
What’s the potential playoff impact? None, with the Nets’ sights squarely on the lottery. But Brooklyn seeks to contend in 2026-27, with no control over its own draft pick next year, so Porter could be much more relevant then.
The only moves about the late June trade: Atlanta Hawks add Nickeil Alexander-Walker via sign-and-trade; Oklahoma City Thunder extend Ajay Mitchell and trade for Jared McCain; and at the top of the list: the Charlotte Hornets selection of Kon Knueppel at No. 4 in the NBA draft.
It is of course a justification for Sean Marks (not that this sort of stuff means much to him.) The pick is valuable because by the time it comes around, Nikola Jokic is likely to be admiring his statue outside Ball Arena while a group of young’uns rebuild the fanchise inside. Johnson, moreover, is having the opposite of Porter’s season. This will be the fourth straight Johnson won’t break 60 games played and is averaging a little less than half MPJ’s production at 11.9 ppg, his lowest since his second year in the league. He also 29 two years older. (Of course, if Denver winds up with the O’Brien trophy, there’ll have to be a recalculation.)
It’s the second time in about two weeks that a nationally recognized outlet has changed its mind on the deal. On the Third Apron podcast co-hosted by Yossi Gozlan of capsheets.com and Sam Quinn of CBS Sports, Quinn credited Sean Marks for his patience in making deals, waiting for a better deal, citing the MPJ deal as an example.
“They waited on Cam Johnson too. It might have cost them draft position in 2025. I think Egor Demin looks good. I’d be very excited to have him. Maybe they could have gotten higher up in that lottery, who’s to say. BUT they get an unprotected pick for Cam Johnson plus Michael Porter Jr. who’s better than Cam Johnson. That’s a killer trade,” said Quinn.
Beyond Simmons, other pundits around the league criticized the deal with one decision-maker telling ND that the Nets had chosen to go in a different direction than expected. “Where’s the seven firsts,” he said derisively at the time. He called the trade the worst of the summer.
Despite some loathsome language on various podcasts, including some earlier the month, the Nets brass seem generally pleased with Porter Jr. with more than one pundit suggesting that the Nets plan on keeping Porter Jr. as they transition from rebuild to a build this summer. There has also been media speculation that Porter could help in the wooing of the Nuggets’ 23-year-old rising star Peyton Watson who will be a restricted free agent this summer. The two were close in Denver.
The Nets did not place in the 10 worst trades (always a danger,) but the Milwaukee Bucks decision waive and stretch Damian Lillard to sign Myles Turner got top billing.
