"A better fit and he makes half the money" - Scalabrine says replacing MPJ with Cam Johnson puts the Nuggets back in title contention
The Denver Nuggets' first move in the 2025 NBA free agency period was to trade starting forward Michael Porter Jr. and an unprotected 2032 first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets for Cameron Johnson.
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While Johnson is not an All-Star or All-NBA player who can move the needle for the Nuggets, SiriusXM NBA Radio's Brian Scalabrine thinks the move involving him and Porter Jr. could be a game-changer for the 2023 NBA champions.
"I think Cameron Johnson's a better fit and he makes half the money," said Scal. "All it cost him was a 2032 unprotected pick. If they're still good in 2032, which who knows what 2032 looks like, they might pay the price for that. But in the meantime, that's a championship roster right there, and they have a little bit of flexibility because their number is 185, which they're underneath all those aprons. So they'll have some room to do things."
Same player at half the price
Once projected to be a No.1 overall pick, Porter Jr. slipped in the 2018 NBA Draft due to concerns about his back injury in college. The Nuggets took a gamble on him at No.14, and after Michael sat out his rookie season to rehabilitate, he emerged as a starter and played a key role in Denver's 2023 title run. MPJ has career averages of 16.2 points and 6.4 rebounds per game with shooting splits of .500/.406/.795.
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Meanwhile, Johnson was the 11th overall pick in the 2019 NBA Draft. He began his career with the Phoenix Suns but was traded to the Nets along with Mikal Bridges and draft picks for Kevin Durant in 2023. Cam has career averages of 12.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game with shooting splits of .453/.392/.851. However, he is coming off his best season ever at 18.8 points, 4.3 boards, and 3.4 dimes per night.
Given that MPJ averaged 18.2 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game this past season, both produced almost the exact numbers for their respective teams. Their games are also very similar, making this trade nearly lateral from a basketball point of view. Financially, however, Porter Jr. costs twice as much as Johnson, and that's where Scalabrine thinks this is a home run for Denver.
Related: Pippen once missed a layup to prevent MJ from getting a triple-double in the 1997 Finals: "I didn't want him to tie me"
Denver gets much-needed flexibility
The Nuggets went from owing Porter Jr. $79.1 million in the next two seasons to paying Johnson $43 million over the same period. Not only is that an outright $36.1 million savings for Denver, the reduction in total payroll also put them below the first apron and gave them access to the $14.1 million mid-level exception and a $16.8 million trade exception, which they can use to add players.
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True enough, the Nuggets sent Dario Saric to the Sacramento Kings in exchange for center Jonas Valanciunas. Although Valanciunas will make $5 million more than Saric, Denver is able to take in his salary because of the flexibility that they gained from the MPJ-Cam deal.
Aside from Valanciunas, the Nuggets were also able to bring back forward Bruce Brown, who was a member of their 2023 title team. Then on Tuesday, Denver added another veteran piece in the person of the sharpshooting Tim Hardaway Jr. and with still some money to spare, they might not be done.
As it stands, the Nuggets have lost only MPJ and Russell Westbrook, but they've added Johnson, Valanciunas, Hardaway, and Brown, making the current team much deeper than the one that took the 2025 champions OKC Thunder, to seven games in the second round.
Related: Josh Kroenke saying Nuggets might be one wrong injury away from trading Nikola Jokic reveals the team's biggest problem
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Jul 2, 2025, where it first appeared.
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