Nets Trade Cam Johnson to Rising West Team in Mock Deal

The NBA Trade Deadline is just one week away and all eyes are on the Brooklyn Nets to see if they will trade Cam Johnson.
Johnson, 28, is one of the top names on the trade market this cycle, and he could fetch a huge haul for the Nets if he is traded to the right team.
The Athletic's Sam Vecenie believes that team could be the San Antonio Spurs. He suggests that the Nets will trade him to the Spurs for Keldon Johnson, a first-round pick swap in 2025, and a top-six protected 2027 first-round pick.
"The Nets’ price tag for Johnson is thought league-wide to be two first-round picks. That feels a bit high to me, so let’s get creative in terms of structure," Vecenie writes.
"First, we’ll throw in the Spurs’ own top-six protected 2027 first-round pick. For the second asset, let’s essentially create a situation in which Brooklyn gets to trade up into the middle of the first round in this upcoming draft. The Nets already own four first-round picks this year. The issue, however, is that three of these picks are currently slated to be Nos. 23, 25 and 27. So how about this: Brooklyn trades the worst of the Houston, New York or Milwaukee picks that it owns to San Antonio for the worst of the two first-rounders the Spurs are guaranteed to have this year, in Atlanta’s or their own."
While the Nets basically move up 10 or so spots in the draft, there are some downsides to this potential deal. Acquiring a player like Keldon Johnson might not be the best scenario for the Nets with their long-term rebuild.
"He’s definitely an NBA rotation player and doesn’t really hinder their long-term flexibility, but teams who have talked to the Nets have felt like they are less interested in taking back long-term salary commitments. I’m a little skeptical that another team would give them expiring money and the kind of draft capital they’d want, but maybe another team goes for it," Vecenie writes.
The Nets might be able to get better value elsewhere, but trading Cam Johnson to any team for some form of future draft capital is a win for Brooklyn if it can get it.
Want to join the discussion? Like Nets on SI on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest Nets news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.