Just over an hour into the beginning of NBA free agency, the Denver Nuggets and Brooklyn Nets agreed to a deal that swaps two sharpshooters in Michael Porter Jr. and Cam Johnson, with a future unprotected first-round pick going to the Nets. It’s a big swing for the Nuggets as they attempt to once again contend for an NBA title after winning it all in 2023.
Breaking Down the Michael Porter Jr.-Cam Johnson Trade
The news was first reported by ESPN’s Shams Charania, who wrote in an X post “BREAKING: The Denver Nuggets are trading Michael Porter Jr. and an unprotected 2032 first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for Cam Johnson, sources tell ESPN.”
BREAKING: The Denver Nuggets are trading Michael Porter Jr. and an unprotected 2032 first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for Cam Johnson, sources tell ESPN. pic.twitter.com/o6rdWhu3Rl
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 30, 2025
Let’s grade both sides of the deal, beginning with the Nuggets, who are taking a sizable swing on a high-level role player who was a key piece of the Phoenix Suns’ NBA Finals run in 2021.
Denver Nuggets Analysis
Coming off a season in which the Nuggets’ core — which won them a championship in 2023 — looked stale at times, this is an attempt to shake things up as they try to maximize three-time MVP Nikola Jokić’s prime.
In a vacuum, both Johnson and Porter play a very similar role: spot-up shooter and floor-spacer. And that’s exactly what will be asked of Johnson in Denver, as he converted on 39% of his 7.2 attempts per game from three-point range. That’s as opposed to Porter’s 39.5% on 6.4 attempts per game from deep.
From that view, why would the Nuggets have to give up an unprotected first-round pick, albeit in 2032?
It’s because Johnson can do more with the ball and is a more mobile mover than Porter. With the Suns, Johnson was largely resigned to the three-point arc and took nearly all of his shots from deep. He was very reliant on others — namely point guard Chris Paul — finding him for open looks.
MORE: NBA Free Agency Tracker
But when he was traded to the Nets in February of 2023, Johnson revealed an ability to do more with the basketball in his hands. This past season, he scored a career-high 18.8 points and took the most shots (13.1 per game) and had his most efficient shooting season from the field in his career (47.5%). He also upped his assists to 3.4 per game, one more than he’d ever tallied in a season.
In an offense with Jokić, Johnson will have all the open looks — and more — that he saw with the Suns. In addition to that, he’ll add a different dimension with his mid-range and occasional attacks to the basket. Those were simply things that Porter never developed for a lack of reasons. Defensively, Johnson is a passable defender who uses his length well, while Porter was often targeted.
As far as the first-round pick seven years from now, Jokić may be gone by then. Heck, much of the personnel in the front office could be gone. The time is now to go all-in on winning another title.
Coming into the offseason, it was apparent that Denver needed to shake things up after falling to the eventual NBA champion Oklahoma City Thunder in seven games in the second round. Just how they’d change it up was an unknown.
Now, we have our answer. Adding Johnson immediately makes Denver a better team and looks poised to place them once again amongst the top contenders in the league. The Nuggets’ championship window looked to be dwindling; now it’s as open as ever.
Nuggets Grade:Â A
Brooklyn Nets
At this time, it remains to be seen if the Nets will keep Porter or place him right back on the trade block and gauge his market. If they do look to shop him, his value may not be as good as what they could’ve gotten for Johnson alone — making this a questionable swap.
Yes, they did acquire Denver’s 2032 unprotected first-rounder, but that’s a long way away. If Brooklyn is still at the bottom of the standings and needs that pick to be high on the draft board, they have other problems.
This doesn’t make Brooklyn any better, which may be a small goal of theirs, especially considering they used all five of their first-round picks in the 2025 NBA Draft. The Nets are going to stink in 2025-26. And while they need floor-spacers to accompany their slew of young guards, Porter was just apart of three consecutive playoff runs to at least the second round. Putting yourself in his shoes, would you want to start over with the Nets?
That’s a complete unknown at this moment. Maybe Porter sees this as an opportunity to show that he can develop into a player who can create his own offense, much like the way that Johnson did during his tenure in Brooklyn.
Regardless of if he does or not, it seems like the Nets could’ve gotten more in return if they kept Johnson and shopped him for longer. They don’t have much use for Porter unless they’re able to find another trade partner. While the 6’10” shooter isn’t a locker room cancer, he isn’t necessarily seen as a veteran who will show the rookies the way.
At the moment, this is a hard one to grade. If the Nets can find a partner to reroute Porter once again for more draft compensation and young talent, I’d say this was successful and give it a “B” grade.
But if they’re set on keeping him on the roster, it’s hard to imagine they couldn’t have gotten more for Johnson. At the very least, they could’ve waited out the summer and seen what he was worth once training camp opens. If keeping him is the case, this would be more on the “C-” to “D” type of grade.
With the unknowns and information still to be released, Brooklyn’s side of the deal can’t yet be given a grade.
Nets Grade:Â N/A
