Nets Have Clear Path to Winning Cam Johnson-Michael Porter Jr. Swap

The Brooklyn Nets are set for another rebuilding year, but they might have shaped next season’s championship race.

Over the past couple of years, Brooklyn has been picking up the pieces from the era of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden. While that incredible trio got the Nets back into title contention for the first time in nearly two decades, it simply led to more problems than it ever solved.

Still trying to address the problems left from those days in 2025, the Nets made some big moves in the offseason as they look toward the future. While the team’s biggest move was likely taking five players in the first round, the biggest headline of Brooklyn’s offseason was sending out Cam Johnson for Michael Porter Jr. and a 2032 first-round pick.

In a recent ESPN article, Chris Herring and Kevin Pelton ranked the top newcomers for next season, placing Johnson in the No. 3 spot as he begins his tenure with the Denver Nuggets. While there is some clear excitement in Denver after Johnson’s arrival, there is still a great argument for Brooklyn as the winner of this trade.

The main reason Brooklyn should be seen as a winner of the deal is the 2032 unprotected pick it acquired from the Nuggets. At that point, Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray and company should be past their prime and perhaps playing elsewhere in the final years of their careers.

That means in 2032, Denver could be in the early stages of a rebuild, leading to a valuable pick for the Nets. Of course, there is no guarantee the Nuggets will be bad in 2032, but that thought is likely held around the league, giving the Nets a chance to get some good value for that pick if they want to trade it in the meantime.

While the pick is certainly the main piece of the trade, Porter isn’t too bad as a secondary centerpiece. In Brooklyn, he should have a chance to increase his trade value as he takes on a role he never had the opportunity to have in Denver.

Although a larger role is expected for Porter, there’s always a chance he won’t thrive under that pressure. Still, everyone has seen what he can do as a key role player with an occasional breakout in Denver, starting for the Nuggets on their 2023 championship run.

So, anything extra that Porter can show over the next few months will simply be an added bonus for Brooklyn. Overall, this trade should shape up to be a win for the Nets as long as the Nuggets don’t hoist the Larry O’Brien in 2026.