The interesting yet tenuous existence of Michael Porter Jr. on the Denver Nuggets appears to be over. After winning a ring with Porter in 2023, Denver is sending him to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for fellow forward Cam Johnson, team sources confirmed to The Athletic. But the price to create some salary relief and get a more consistent player was an unprotected first-round pick in 2032.

ESPN was first to report the deal.

This is a major shakeup to the core of the Nuggets — and a cost-effective one at that. Let’s bust out the red ink and slap some grades on this trade:

Nuggets receive Cameron Johnson

This is a massive win for the Nuggets from a roster-building standpoint. Porter was owed $78 million over the next two seasons, and Johnson is due $44 million in that same timeframe. For $17 million less per season, Johnson is a similar on-court fit to Porter. This deal takes the Nuggets far away from the dreaded second apron and now gives them a lot of breathing room for fleshing out what was a top-heavy roster in the last two seasons. Since that championship run, cost-cutting led them to losing veterans Jeff Green, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Bruce Brown, though Brown and the Nuggets agreed to a one-year reunion on Monday. That shift was largely due to today’s financial constraints and ownership that didn’t want spend too much money.

Johnson is one of the NBA’s best 3-point shooters and gives the Nuggets plenty of versatility at either forward position. He’s a career 39.2-percent 3-point shooter on over 2,000 attempts. The 29-year-old is as consistent and reliable as it gets when it comes being an effective off-ball shooter. He’s been this kind of shooter playing on a Brooklyn team that didn’t have stars to create gravity for him, leaving him to provide that gravity for the team. That won’t be the case with Denver. Why? He’s on Nikola Jokić’s team now. When you factor in how Jokić passes the ball when defenses collapse on him, there is no comparison to the gravity he can provide.

Johnson is going to get a level of shot quality he’s never seen before, which could push his shooting to newfound levels. For Denver, the only concerns with this trade are about financial savings and whether Johnson’s production can be more valuable than whatever that 2032 unprotected first-round pick yields for Brooklyn. In the short term, you absolutely do this deal. In the long term, if Denver doesn’t compete for a second title, this trade might not be worth it.

Grade: A-

Nets receive Michael Porter Jr. and an unprotected 2032 first-round pick

This is how you use your cap space in today’s NBA. The Nets having Porter on their rebuilding roster is a perfect fit. He’s going to be a scorer to help dazzle fans on nights of bad team play. This Nets team is not trying to win basketball games. Brooklyn is just accumulating assets and trying to maximize its best chance at getting a superstar via the NBA draft lottery in the next two years. The Nets don’t add any future money from this deal beyond how Johnson’s contract impacted them, so they’re just eating up some of their existing cap space. And they’re hoping that another pick in their treasure chest of draft assets will yield players or leverage in a future trade.

Porter has a chance to revive his reputation and career in Brooklyn. We know his talent is immense. He could easily average 30 points a night in the NBA. The problem is he’s incredibly inconsistent and couldn’t fully take advantage of playing next to Jokić, aside from that championship season. Porter should be the guy in Brooklyn, and the Nets could actually set up quite a bit for their young guys and role players around him. They drafted a lot of young playmakers, so having him to finish scoring opportunities could build toward what they’re aiming for.

The Nets just have to get Porter to consistently show up. For at least the next season, this should be a pretty interesting experiment. After that, he’s got an expiring contract they could dangle for a trade. If that becomes an option, they can increase his value before turning him into an asset. That’s where the Nets are. Everything is about obtaining assets and accumulating things that can help in the future. Porter is the next step in that. In the meantime, you just have to hope he can distract fans with big scoring nights.

Grade: A

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