Nuggets trade Michael Porter Jr. in blockbuster

The Denver Nuggets made a blockbuster Monday, trading longtime forward Michael Porter Jr. to the Brooklyn Nets for Cam Johnson

BY JAKE SHAPIRO

Jun 30, 2025, 5:10 PM Updated: 6:05 pm

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The Denver Nuggets made a blockbuster Monday, trading longtime forward Michael Porter Jr. to the Brooklyn Nets for Cam Johnson, according to ESPN.

The Nuggets attached an unprotected 2032 first-round pick to MPJ in order to make the deal. Had they waited until next year’s draft, they could have included two first-rounders and the player would have had an expiring contract, giving the Nuggets more value. However, with Nikola Jokic putting a bit of pressure on the Nuggets as the season ended and the team being run by a new front office, Denver took a big swing.

Porter, who turned 27 on Sunday, was a first-round pick of the Nuggets in 2018 and helped the team to the 2023 title. He played through a shoulder injury in the 2025 playoffs and struggled. Many fans had become frustrated with his lack of consistent production despite his increased reliability, size and shooting. Porter averaged 18.2 points per game on a .504/.395/.768 shooting line in 77 games for Denver last season, while getting seven rebounds a contest.

Johnson, who was a member of the Phoenix Suns’ 2021 Finals team, has been on the Brooklyn Nets since coming over in the Kevin Durant deal.

Johnson, 29, is a 6-foot-8 forward who scored a career-high 18.8 points per game on .475/.390/.893 shooting in 57 games for the Nets last season. He also set a new career high with 3.4 assists per contest and stacked 4.3 rebounds a game. While Johnson isn’t as rugged on the glass, he’s a better defender.

Johnson is a good player, with many metrics suggesting he had a better season than MPJ last year. However, the story of the deal is that the Nuggets save $35 million over the next two seasons, assuming MPJ picks up his player option. It will bring back some thoughts of Nuggets ownership being cheap, though it also allows the team to fall under the first apron and utilize the entire $14 million mid-level exception, which could help the Nuggets with their stated goals of adding more depth.

Denver chased this right away, by re-adding Bruce Brown to a small one-year deal just minutes after shipping out Porter.