The 2025-26 NBA season is still young, but the early returns on the Cam Johnson deal for the Nuggets have not been promising. Johnson was supposed to be a seamless fit in Denver’s starting lineup, taking the Michael Porter Jr. role and adding some playmaking, rim pressure, and defense to the already elite shooting.
This was a reasonable enough expectation as Johnson has been thriving in Brooklyn as a primary option for the Nets, averaging almost 20 points and shooting 39% on over seven three-point attempts per game just last season.
But through nine games with the Nuggets, Johnson is averaging a mere 8 points per game, and he’s shooting 37% from the field and a measly 23% from three. Sure, some of that is sample size, but we’ve seen more than 10% of the regular season now, and it hasn’t looked good at all.
Obviously, there was going to be some sort of adjustment period as Johnson is coming to an established contender where he’ll take a minimized offensive role as more of a secondary option. But that wasn’t supposed to lead to his efficiency falling off a cliff and him forgetting how to shoot.
Hot starts by Murray and Gordon masking Johnson’s struggles
Luckily for the Nuggets, they’ve gotten off to a great start overall, with a 7-2 record behind a dominant 6-0 home record. They’re second in the league in Net Rating, and the gap between them, the first-place Thunder, and everybody else is massive.
But that has been a result of typically great play from Nikola Jokic and hot starts for Jamal Murray and Aaron Gordon. We’ve seen some of Jokic’s co-stars get off to slow starts in the past that have led to bench players being thrust into bigger roles. Things have gotten out of whack, and Jokic has had to do way too much.
This season, the Nuggets loaded up on depth to combat these issues, but it has been the stars carrying the load. Murray and Gordon have been outstanding, which has covered for the slow start by Cam Johnson and others, including Christian Braun.
They are getting enough positive minutes from the bench, as guys like Tim Hardaway Jr. and Peyton Watson have been very solid, and that, mixed with the stars, it’s a winning formula. But the whole idea was that those guys could lessen their loads to be fresher for the playoffs.
The jury’s not out, and they have plenty of time to get this figured out, but so far, it feels a lot like last year, and if things stay that way, this trade may go down as a total disaster.