Revisiting (prematurely) the MPJ/CJ Trade

[KokoKaizer]

Denver made the right choice knowing the cap

A win for them

[Exp0sed]

I don't get the tank commander narrative, when has that ever been true of MPJ? This is the first season in his career with a negative Net Rtg, which he makes up for with an expectedly high on/off

Even if you ignore the ring on his finger, his impact profile is solid. Defense is generally the main source of criticism but he's put up positive defensive on offs in 5 of 7 seasons. For that to be true, I can't help thinking he's at least passable on that end. Maybe his physical advantages offset what appears to be bad defense? Idk... Just spitballing in hopes to close the gap between public perception and my own. The cherry on top is high scoring efficiency, which is usually a fan favorite when it comes to player analysis

Color me stumped on MPJ. I hereby conclude that I'm right and the masses are wrong, class dismissed

It has never been true about MPJ because he played in limited, secondary and tertiary role

putting the ball in his hands more and making him the #1 option is a great way to tank

His netrtg was fine, even positive in a role that suits him, like the role he has played his entire career in Denver, in this role? ouch

Mpj is a good player overall, he's just overpaid. He developed with this core, was a great teammate and pro and loved by everyone in Denver and was also a contributing part of their only 'chip. Had he be making Cam Johnson money - he'd still be on the team




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[Alatan]

Very convinient to make this thread when CJ is in a slump and MPJ is tank commanding to gauge his stats.

Nevertheless CJ is still a better player as he actually has a functioning brain and ia not a hole on defense. Once his shot starts falling and he gets comfortable with Denver ask this question again.

[Exp0sed]

We got Val and much needed depth along with Cam. The Nuggets saved 18 million on the contract difference alone. Definitely a win for Nuggets.

that makes it a win-win, as Nugget looked to shed salary and replace the production at lower cost and Brooklyn isn't going anywhere so it doesn't mind taking on more salary, in return for some assets. win-win.

[GeorgeMarcus]

Very convinient to make this thread when CJ is in a slump and MPJ is tank commanding to gauge his stats.

Nevertheless CJ is still a better player as he actually has a functioning brain and ia not a hole on defense. Once his shot starts falling and he gets comfortable with Denver ask this question again.

That's a weird claim to make considering CJ is coming off 2 1/2 years of 'tank commander' on the Nets while MPJ has only played 8 games in that role. Sounds like the widespread bias I alluded to has taken hold of you. If you have an evidence based argument of some kind I'm all for it

[GeorgeMarcus]

Some people aren't quite understanding. If MPJ was making Cam Johnson money, he'd probably be on the team. But he was outrageously overpaid, and it was keeping Denver from reinforcing the roster. The bench players may not even play during the playoffs, but if they can keep Murray, Gordon and Jokic from playing too many regular season minutes, it was worth it. Also, they were able to extend Braun, which they probably wouldn't have been able to do.

MPJ is a good player. I've been a defender of his for years. But that contract had to be moved. He's not worth nearly that much money, which is why Denver had to attach a first round pick to trade the better player.

It's more complicated than simply player A is better than player B.

Everybody on this board did nothing but bash MPJ for years. Called him the most overpaid player in the league. But now that he's putting up decent high volume stats on a miserable team with no other scorers, it's suddenly a mistake and Denver should have run it back with the same team that didn't look right all last year. This board just never knows what they want. Denver looks better this year than pretty much any point last year. Nuggets fans are happy.

FWIW I have a long, documented history of defending MPJ while he was in Denver. I haven't wavered from that

Also FWIW, my intention isn't to poo poo the Nuggets. The added cap flexibility was a major part of rounding out their roster/addressing depth which had been an achilles heal of sorts. I feel kind of neutral about it for ya'll, all things considered, but decidedly positive for the Nets

[Doctor MJ]

I've been in the minority for a while now on MPJ and believe he's wrongly maligned by the public. It's probably a bad time to post this as he's primed for a rough night against Ausar, but if I can't say it on down nights then I probably shouldn't say it at all

This isn't meant to be a dig at CJ who is fine but straight up, I consider MPJ to be the better/more impactful player. Obviously salaries played a part in DEN's decision to move on- which allowed them to add much needed depth- but the way I see it BKN made a great trade landing an undervalued building block + a FRP while the extra $$ is a non issue.

As such, I'm curious where people stand: who won the trade and which player is better in a vacuum?

Well for me it’s just really not about whether Cam is as good as Porter, but about the Nuggets recognizing that their actual Big 3 was Jokic-Murray-Gordon, and that around that Big 3, Porter wasn’t really a great role player because a) he’s a big on team that already has two bigs in their Big 3 in a league that generally plays 2 bigs in a lineup, b) he can’t do anything but shoot but he’s being used with low primacy which means you’re effectively choosing to play him mostly to be a decoy, and on a team with Jokic and Murray, opponents don’t bite, c) he was paid way too much, d) he and his family have always been culturally questionable.

He’s more talented than Cam so it’s easy to see how the trade may be a win for the Nets regardless of what happens in Denver, but I think the Nuggets needed to move on from Porter even if they got nothing back because of the reasons above.


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[DusterBuster]

Eh, it's still somewhere in the middle. This trade was less about one team "winning" and just both teams getting what they need. MPJ isn't a franchise player for anyone, he's a typical good stats = bad team guy... ok stats = good team guy. He should never be a teams go-to player for a team that wants to do anything of substance... but he's someone a rebuilding/garbage team like the Nets can point to as a bright spot, so that's something for them.

CJ was a downgrade in a pure-talent 1:1 comp for Denver, but he balanced both their books and their roster. That was more important than having an oft-injured player who could get disinterested in games if he wasn't getting shots up and would in no way shape or form ever accept a bench role.

[Raps in 4]

Getting rid of MPJ was addition by subtraction.

[Chuck Everett]

Cam Johnson sucks. MPJ has too expensive a contract, but Johnson is so damn overrated. Dude is going to get so much grief in the playoffs this spring when he underperforms. Watch.

[LeBronSpaghetti]

Cam Johnson sucks. MPJ has too expensive a contract, but Johnson is so damn overrated. Dude is going to get so much grief in the playoffs this spring when he underperforms. Watch.

Oh… because MPJ has had such amazing playoff performances during his career. You could truly argue that MPJ choking in the playoffs has cost the nuggets a ring. He apologized to the team after they lost game 7 to the wolves in 2024. In the 2025 playoffs he was even worse. Yes I realize he was injured but an injured shoulder doesn’t make you ass at defense.

Even in 2023 he wasn’t good outside of the Lakers series. The rest of the team just picked up the slack so it didn’t matter.

[Capn'O]

Cam's gonna play better for them but obviously looks like a win for BK at the moment.

[Chuck Everett]

Cam Johnson sucks. MPJ has too expensive a contract, but Johnson is so damn overrated. Dude is going to get so much grief in the playoffs this spring when he underperforms. Watch.

Oh… because MPJ has had such amazing playoff performances during his career. You could truly argue that MPJ choking in the playoffs has cost the nuggets a ring. He apologized to the team after they lost game 7 to the wolves in 2024. In the 2025 playoffs he was even worse. Yes I realize he was injured but an injured shoulder doesn’t make you ass at defense.

Even in 2023 he wasn’t good outside of the Lakers series. The rest of the team just picked up the slack so it didn’t matter.

Two things can be true simultaneously. Porter needed to be moved because he wasn't good enough in the playoffs. But I expect the same from Cam Johnson.

If I am proven wrong and Nuggets chip, I'll salute Kroenke and the new front office for making the hard decisions to give Jokic a good enough team to get it done.

[DarkXaero]

MPJ was always the better player. Cam is a guy you want coming off your bench for 15-20 mpg to give you some efficient scoring in your second unit, that's it. He put up 19 ppg on the Nets last year because we gave him a role no good team should ever give him. This was about saving money.

Completely incorrect. Cam J is comfortably better than MPJ but right now Cam J is playing hurt and honestly shouldn't be playing with how his performance level has been.

[LeBronSpaghetti]

Cam Johnson sucks. MPJ has too expensive a contract, but Johnson is so damn overrated. Dude is going to get so much grief in the playoffs this spring when he underperforms. Watch.

Oh… because MPJ has had such amazing playoff performances during his career. You could truly argue that MPJ choking in the playoffs has cost the nuggets a ring. He apologized to the team after they lost game 7 to the wolves in 2024. In the 2025 playoffs he was even worse. Yes I realize he was injured but an injured shoulder doesn’t make you ass at defense.

Even in 2023 he wasn’t good outside of the Lakers series. The rest of the team just picked up the slack so it didn’t matter.

Two things can be true simultaneously. Porter needed to be moved because he wasn't good enough in the playoffs. But I expect the same from Cam Johnson.

If I am proven wrong and Nuggets chip, I'll salute Kroenke and the new front office for making the hard decisions to give Jokic a good enough team to get it done.

MPJ being better for less than 10 games is irrelevant. It absolutely blows my mind how short sighted people are. Merely months ago MPJ was the worst contract in the league and a negative value trade asset according to most on this site, while Cam Johnson was a desirable third option for every contender in the league.

Consider zooming out beyond the last two weeks and you might see more clearly. Also even if Cam plays how he is right now for the entire season and playoffs, he will match what Porter did offensively in the playoffs last year. Only difference is CJ won’t get picked on defensively, so the nuggets are still ahead. But that’s an unrealistically low bar. Cam will obviously get better. He hasn’t suddenly stopped being an nba player. He will be fine.

[BigGargamel]

It's about more than just Cam Johnson. Hardaway and Valanciunas have been tremendous. As good as Denver fans could have hoped for. I know people don't watch the team every game, but to have those two guys coming in instead of Strawther/Jordan. That's more than made up for whatever small downgrade Johnson is over Porter. Brown has been solid too. Denver has a legitimate 9 man rotation now. That's something they haven't had for years. None of that could have happened with MPJ's contract still sucking up all the air. The trade has been a success.

[davidv2001]

Cam Johnson didn’t forget how to shoot in the offseason. He’s off to a rough start on a new team and needs to figure out his role on offense. Provided he stays healthy, his shooting will come around.

The trade was also MPJ + the pick for Johnson, Valanciunas, Bruce Brown and Tim Hardaway Jr. because the savings allowed Denver to build a bench.

MPJ has always been a solid NBA player, but his contract made it difficult for the Nuggets to add depth with the new apron rules.

[Yoshun]

MPJ was always the better player. Cam is a guy you want coming off your bench for 15-20 mpg to give you some efficient scoring in your second unit, that's it. He put up 19 ppg on the Nets last year because we gave him a role no good team should ever give him. This was about saving money.

Completely incorrect. Cam J is comfortably better than MPJ but right now Cam J is playing hurt and honestly shouldn't be playing with how his performance level has been.

I'm not just looking at this season when he's been hurt, I'm looking at his whole career. Cam J has never been anything more than a solid rotational player on mostly bad teams. I don't dislike the guy at all and it's perfectly okay to make a career that way, any team would love to have an efficient scorer coming off their bench, there's nothing wrong with that.

MPJ has been a starter and significant contributor to multiple championship contending teams. There's really no comparison.

[zimpy27]

Healthy MPJ is obviously far better than CamJ.

But Nuggets won the trade because MPJ is not reliably healthy and he costs a ton. Nuggets got space for other key pieces.

[BelgradeNugget]

Nuggets starters last season:

A. Gordon - N. Jokić - J. Murray - M. Porter Jr. - C. Braun
OFRTG 125
DEFRTG 114.4
NETRTG 10.6


Nuggets starters this season:

A. Gordon - N. Jokić - J. Murray - C. Johnson - C. Braun
OFRTG 115.6
DEFRTG 106.1
NETRTG 9.4

I hope people can see where is the differance. Just to mention, Cam is not the only starter shooting bad from 3 this season. It is also truth for Jokic, Murray, Braun. Practically every starter except AG is having bad 3pt shooting year so far. So what will happen when shots start falling?

BTW I really like MPJ, he helped Nuggets win championship, and played in the playoffs with injury not a lot of players would play through. Truth warrior. Gave everything to team, but I think he is also satisfied with opportunity to have bigger role in offense now.

I wish him all the best in the rest of his career.