Today we continue the conversation of trade partners for the Brooklyn Nets veteran talent. Right now(or right after you read this article) you can go see Doug Norrie and I discuss Dennis Schröder, his amazing season, and how much the NBA might not care when it comes to getting trade value for him.
Tomorrow we will discuss Cam Johnson who is currently the subject of several rumors around NBA trade circles. Just like Dennis Schröder, Johnson is having a career year. Unlike Schröder, Cam Johnson has a real shot at landing Brooklyn some serious assets due to his age(28), three-point shooting, and two-way value for any contending team.
HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto reported that Johnson “may be able to fetch a future first-round pick in return if the Nets trade him before the deadline,” and the Warriors stand as a very interested party as the season unfolds.
The Western Conference is a fairly wide-open landscape after the Thunder and the surging Grizzlies who are 9-1 over their last ten games following a slow start.
On the one hand, Golden State can view this as a positive, sitting in the fifth seed and having all the Championship pedigree of Steph Curry, Draymond Green, and Steve Kerr at its core. Golden State may be top-five in points per game, but a 22nd-ranked FG percentage and middle-of-the-road 14th-ranked 3PT% leaves plenty to be desired.
The flip side would be that regardless of where teams seed in, the Western Conference playoffs could be a blood bath. The Denver Nuggets are currently the seventh seed with the Phoenix Suns holding a play-in position as the 10th seed. The season is of course long but the bottom line: bolster up your rosters Western Conference because these playoffs will test you.
Golden State, which has also been linked to Dorian Finney-Smith and Dennis Schröder, has control of its own first-round picks in the next four consecutive drafts. It is a note worth consideration in these discussions.
Brooklyn spent years swapping picks across the NBA landscape before finally reclaiming their short-term draft future this past off-season. When you consider using your own picks on deals like these the calculation becomes “Will be near the back of the first round over the next “x” number of seasons?
If the consensus is yes, you dive into the trade pool confident that at worst you have given a back-end pick away. As we saw with the Net’s recent history - when other teams hold your fate it can force you to try and stay competitive when the best path is to lose.
When having another team’s assets it can behoove a GM to be patient, waiting to see how far that team may fall, and how high the draft pick may rise.
All of this to say, if Golden State believes the Steph Curry window can be held open a bit longer by adding Cam Johnson(or any other Nets veterans) it could make for a smooth negotiation process.
For the full breakdown of how this deal could get done, and the other teams in on Cam Johnson’s bidding war, tune in Thursday to Locked On Nets as we break down our favorite trade partners for Brooklyn.
