Michael Porter Jr. Reportedly Traded to Nets with 2032 Pick, Nuggets Get Cam Johnson
The Denver Nuggets decided a reshuffle was in order after a second successive exit in the Western Conference semifinals.
ESPN's Shams Charania reported Monday that the Nuggets are trading forward Michael Porter Jr. and an unprotected 2032 first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets in a deal that will net them Cam Johnson.
ESPN's Ramona Shelburne reported the Nets are "excited" about landing Porter and intend to keep him.
The move doesn't come as a shock with Denver sputtering through a disjointed season that saw head coach Michael Malone and general manager Calvin Booth fired two weeks out from the playoffs.
The Athletic's Tony Jones and Sam Amick first reported on Dec. 17 the Nuggets were "canvassing the league in pursuit of a player who can offer significant help offensively." Later in the story, they wrote how Porter was likely going to be included in any trade of significance.
The 6'10" forward played a valuable role in Denver's 2023 championship run and is under contract for two more seasons. He continues to be an effective scorer as well. He's averaged 18.2 points on 50.4 percent shooting, including 39.5 percent from beyond the arc in 2024-25.
However, the nature of the Nuggets' last two postseason exits may have forced the new front office to closely examine the existing core. In the case of Porter, his production fell off noticeably in the playoffs against both the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2024 and Oklahoma City Thunder in 2025.
For a player making more than $30 million a year, you'd hope to get more than 10 points per contest when it matters the most. He averaged just 7.4 points against OKC.
Smaller-market organizations have always had to be mindful of their payroll because there's a premium attached to retaining homegrown talent and signing outside free agents. There are some fans in Denver who will remember when signing Paul Millsap to a $90 million deal in 2017 was considered a bit of a coup.
The current collective bargaining agreement has forced even owners who are traditionally big spenders to be more prudent.
The Nuggets have witnessed firsthand the cost of becoming a contender.
Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray have signed extensions reaching $276.1 million and $207.8 million, respectively. Aaron Gordon, another important contributor during the 2023 championship run, has penned a $103.6 million extension that goes into effect in 2026 as well.
One look at Denver's payroll shows how little flexibility it had moving forward. Murray and Gordon on their own will make more than $88 million in 2027-28, and that's the summer when Jokič will be eligible to opt out and get an even bigger supermax deal.
A blockbuster trade was the only way for the Nuggets to make a meaningful upgrade if they concluded the status quo isn't working.
In that scenario, Porter was the Nuggets' most expendable star. He doesn't have Murray's history of rising to the occasion in the playoffs, and his massive salary was crucial toward balancing out the incoming and outgoing money.
Maybe Denver will come to regret letting Porter go, a little like how the Milwaukee Bucks probably wish they could take back the Jrue Holiday/Damian Lillard trade.
The Nuggets seemed to plateau with the triumvirate of Jokić, Murray and Porter, though, so forging ahead without any changes was risky in its own right.
Johnson also gives them a versatile forward who can hit from the outside and score 20 points on a given night. And playing alongside Jokič may help him put up even better numbers after he averaged 18.8 points per game last season for the Nets.
