The Denver Nuggets are moving closer to one of the most anticipated seasons in franchise history.
Let’s continue our three-week series in advance of Media Day on September 29th, just one week away! With 14 players on the roster and a new mix of players to discuss, it’s important to remember who the Nuggets have, who they don’t have, and what to expect heading into October.
Up next, a check-in on Cameron Johnson.
The final new addition to the Denver Nuggets roster was by far the most surprising. After seasons of running it back, avoiding overreactions to disappointing finishes, the Nuggets finally acted by breaking up their core.
Gone was Michael Porter Jr., a staple in Denver for five of the seven years since he was drafted in 2018. In his place arrived Cam Johnson, a similarly shooting focused forward with similar statistical profiles, games played, and reputations around the league.
It’s the nuances that are important though, and Nuggets fans should be incredibly interested in those delineations that should make the team stronger in the near future.
With careers viewed side by side, it’s fair to question why the Nuggets made the move they did.
In recent years as Johnson has assumed a more extensive role, the raw numbers have crept up to the point of comparability with Porter and surpassed his in some ways. Johnson’s ability to pass, while perhaps not an elite skill, is still far superior to Porter’s impact as a playmaker for others. Last season was Porter’s best as a passer, and it was still a full assist shy of Johnson’s playmaking rate in Brooklyn during 2024-25.
I’ve always maintained that Porter can see the court reasonably well, and some of the passes he makes in transition in particular are rather impressive. The problem was the mechanisms to showcase that skill were broken for Porter. His ability to generate an advantage off the dribble in the halfcourt suffered as his career has progressed, becoming more and more one dimensional. Porter’s athleticism waned, and the way that most other players generate space to make passes (attacking off the dribble) wasn’t available to Porter. His ball handling growth was stunted due to his back injuries, and the Nuggets became limited in the ways they could utilize Porter as a result.
Contrast that with Johnson, who was the de facto point guard in Brooklyn for several months, and there’s simply no contest. Johnson will be a secondary or tertiary ball handler in Denver, but the simple act of dribble driving to create space will be extremely useful in both regular season and playoff settings.
Last season, 74.0% of Porter’s two-pointers were assisted compared to just 55.6% for Johnson. Porter averaged just 2.8 drives per game during the regular season. Johnson averaged 7.0.
The injury Porter sustained to his shoulder in the playoffs was extremely unfortunate. It’s difficult to emphasize how much Porter struggled to impact games in good faith due to those injuries.
Still, the Nuggets are hoping that as long as he’s healthy, Cam Johnson can add some variety to the playoff offense without taking away the outside shooting potency. During the last three seasons, Porter attempted 10.5 three-pointers per 100 possessions, making 40.1%. During the same span, Johnson attempted 10.9 threes per 100 and made 39.4% of them. That doesn’t sound like much of a drop-off to me.
How it all fits together remains a question. Is Johnson going to be a truly successful defender? Probably not that much more than Porter, though he’s better on the perimeter moving his feet than Porter was.
Will Johnson improve upon Porter’s minutes without Nikola Jokic on the floor? It would be hard to be worse than last year when the Nuggets had a -12.3 point differential per 100 possessions with Porter on the floor sans Jokic. There will be better mechanisms around Johnson to help out there (I.E. a fully revamped bench unit featuring Jonas Valanciunas, Bruce Brown, and Tim Hardaway Jr.) and the Nuggets must improve the minutes with Jokic on the bench. If Johnson can’t be an improvement there, it’s a serious detractor from this trade.
Under contract for the next two seasons, Johnson will be expected to make the Nuggets more dangerous. He’s capable, and those unique differences with Porter highlight exactly how that impact could happen.
There’s a ton of pressure facing Johnson this season to get back to being the high impact role player every team needs to win a championship. If he can stay healthy and assimilate into Denver’s versatility focused play style, the Nuggets will be truly formidable once again.
