The list of team interested in Cam Johnson continues to grow with Jake Fischer writing Saturday that we should add the Indiana Pacers to the list. Not so fast says a league source familiar with the Nets intentions.
Cam Johnson was in a walking boot on Saturday night for the Brooklyn Nets game with the Philadelphia 76ers after spraining his ankle in the last seconds of Brooklyn’s upset of the Milwaukee Bucks two nights earlier.
No matter. His name is still coming up in trade rumors. However, not all the rumors are accurate. One league source told ND what’s currently being written about Johnson is “completely incorrect.” No further details, but the source has proven accurate in the past. Of course, just last week, the Nets were rumored to be in talks with the Memphis Grizzlies about Dorian Finney-Smith but within 12 hours, he was a member of the Los Angeles Lakers.
The latest intel comes from Jake Fischer who works with Marc Stein on Stein’s substack, The Steinline. In a short summary of where things stand with Johnson, Fischer wrote:
League sources say that Indiana is a team to watch in the trade pursuit of Brooklyn’s Cam Johnson.
Memphis is another team frequently mentioned as a likely Johnson suitor … although it’s unclear how eager the Grizzlies are to return to the trade table with the Nets in the wake of Brooklyn deciding to swap Dorian Finney-Smith to the Lakers after extensive talks with the Grizz. (Last week’s Sunday Best can bring you up to speed on everything that happened there.)
Sources also confirmed to The Stein Line that the Kings have indeed held trade talks with the Nets regarding Johnson, but I’m told that prized rookie Devin Carter to this point has not been included in any of the teams’ discussions. The Kings value Carter highly.
Fischer doesn’t detail what the Pacers could offer the Nets but they have a wealth of first round picks going forward. At the least, they control their own firsts in 2025, 2027, 2028, 2029, 2030 and 2031. They do not control their 2026 first. The Nets who have four firsts and a second in 2025. and three firsts and a second in 2027 are reportedly interested in bolstering their assets in 2026, which some draftniks believe could be as spectacular as 2025. Indiana, who’s in Brooklyn for a game Monday night, also has a number of young players on moderate deals.
As for the Kings interest, sources tell ND that the Kings have already but one first round pick on the table but the two teams are debating the rest of the compensation whether it’s another first, Carter, a swap or nothing, meaning a deal simply won’t get done.
Johnson has been the subject of rumors for weeks. He’s having a career year averaging 19 points a game with shooting splits near 50/40/90 and a growing reputation as a leader. In addition to the purported interest by the Pacers, Kings and Grizzlies, there have been reports linking him to the Los Angeles Lakers, Oklahoma City Thunder, among others.
The league source did not detail that status of any talks, limiting his comments to a blanket comment that “all rumors are incorrect.” Does that mean things won’t change by the trade deadline which is a month away from tomorrow?
Fischer, in another Steinline commentary this weekend, complemented the Nets on the two deals they made for Dennis Schroder and Dorian Finney-Smith which produced six second rounders and two G Leaguers in two-way Reece Beekman and Maxwell Lewis.
When Brooklyn nabbed three second-rounders in each of those trades, Sean Marks’ front office surrendered the opportunity to find out if a richer reward would surface closer to the Feb. 6 trade deadline. With no crystal ball out there to peer into and see guaranteed outcomes, Brooklyn decided to strike now rather than risk the prospect of the Warriors or Lakers finding a cheaper price point for the same sort of position upgrades that Schröder and Finney-Smith can provide.
“Brooklyn is the smart team for getting out early and getting the work done,” one veteran executive told me. “You don’t want to be left holding the bag.”
While noting the buzz about Brooklyn wanting first rounders for both 31-year-olds, Fischer said that while his colleague, Stein, wondered if the downgrade in compensation would affect the Nets negotiating position in future deals.
I don’t think so. Let’s not forget, for starters, that the Nets were adamant that they would not trade Mikal Bridges without bringing back four first-round picks … and they ultimately scored more in their Bridges trade with the Knicks. While there’s certainly an art to leveraging time and in calling rival teams’ bluffs, I see both of Brooklyn’s latest deals as strong trades, too…
Multiple second-rounders can do the same job as one first-rounder in certain situations. It can also be argued that Brooklyn might not have been in position to command more than it got in any case in these two trades, since Schröder is on an expiring contract and given that Finney-Smith could land in the same category if the swingman declines his 2025-26 player option as some teams expect.
Fischer noted that not everyone agrees with his analysis quoting a Western Conference official saying the Nets would have gotten a first for DFS at last year’s deadline.
It’s going to take a long while for the eventual “who won? who lost” stories to be written on both those two deals … and whatever happens with Cam Johnson.