Michael Porter Jr.'s taken the next step. He's having a tremendous season for the Brooklyn Nets. But the Nuggets had a real big problem last summer, and they couldn't afford to keep him. They were way over the luxury tax threshold, and MPJ was going to be owed a lot of money. They needed to find a trade partner to accommodate his large contract.
Enter the Brooklyn Nets. In the summer of 2025, Porter was traded along with a 2032 1st-round draft pick for Cam Johnson. The trade was the trigger that put the Nuggets back in the driver's seat to navigate their way out of their luxury tax problem.
They've since completed a trade deadline salary dump, coincidentally with the Nets again, and accomplished the front office's goal of getting the Nuggets back under the luxury tax threshold, something they haven't been able to do in recent years.
MPJ's breakout is bittersweet for Nuggets fans
MPJ's having the best season of his career. He'd been building up to this for years, but he was always the third option, at best, in Denver. Now, with the Nets, Porter's the star. He's averaging 25 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 3.7 made threes per game.
It's a bittersweet sight for Nuggets fans. Porter was a member of the Nuggets' 2023 NBA Championship-winning team. But while Porter's been successful, his replacement, when healthy, has done a favorable job in the starting unit.
Cam Johnson has started 31 of Denver's 55 games, averaging 11.5 points and 3.6 rebounds. Those aren't MPJ replacement numbers, but Jamal Murray and Nikola Jokic have picked up the slack. However, the overall goal of the trade wasn't to fully replace MPJ; it was to save on salary, for the greater long-term good of the team.
And now the Nuggets are in a great position to match an offer for Peyton Watson. Watson is going to hit the restricted free agency market this summer, and speculation for where he is going to land and what size contract he will be fielding offers for has been making the rounds. And the rumor is the Lakers are going to make a large run at him.
Without having completed the crucial trade in the summer of 2025, the Nuggets would have had no shot at re-signing Watson and matching another team's offer. They'd be paying so many fines for luxury tax violations, and the front office would be working to shed salary again. But some forward thinking solved the Nuggets' biggest concerns, and MPJ got to blossom into a star. Win, Win, for both sides.