The Denver Nuggets are likely to be trading Cameron Johnson this offseason in order to save salary and avoid the NBA's second apron tax. Fans may disagree with the move, but even the NBA Champion New York Knicks owner doesn't want to go down the second apron road.
So the Nuggets have to cut somewhere, but they still have to play within the trade rules. As such, they should explore an option with the Detroit Pistons not only to save money but also to bring in Isaiah Stewart to fix the defense and finally be the backup center the Nuggets have desperately needed behind Nikola Jokic. Surprisingly, the trade could work well for both sides.
The trade would allow the Pistons to move Duncan Robinson to the bench in favor of Cam for an added boost to the Pistons offense, and the Nuggets rotation gets the defensive piece they needed against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs.
The cherry on top for the Nuggets would be the $8.1 million in cap savings. Stewart, at just 25, would add youth and would be under contract at $15 million for the 2026-27 season, and he has a team option for the same value the following year.
Stewart would be the perfect rotation option for the paint defense
Stewart wouldn't just have to be the exclusive backup center to Jokic like Jonas Valanciunas was this season. Stewart's defense is too good, and his rim protection is elite, averaging 1.6 blocks per game in 2025-26, good for eighth in the league, in just 22.7 minutes per game off the bench for the Pistons.
In fact, Stewart's rim protection is so elite that opponents shot just 43.8% at the rim with Stewart in the paint. That's the lowest number in 12 seasons' worth of data for a player who defended 200 shots or more at the rim. The Nuggets couldn't do much better than Stewart defensively in the paint, one of the key needs they had coming into the offseason.
Stewart had such a good season on defense that he finished in seventh place in the voting for the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year Award. He wasn't a slouch in the other facets of the game either, scoring 10.0 points and corralling 5.0 rebounds. That's all the Nuggets could ask for out of the backup and rotational big, and more than they got out of Big Val last year.
This trade works great for the Nuggets
All things considered, the Nuggets have to make some moves to get better on defense, and they should also avoid the second apron for the roster penalties. This trade would certainly solve the rim protection issue, and it would solve a good portion of the salary issue, too.
Plus, the Nuggets' starting lineup would just add Peyton Watson in place of Cam and probably be a much better defense than it was last year, while not missing a beat on offense. The Nuggets would be so much better off with this trade, and it's one of the more hopeful outcomes for a likely Johnson salary dump.
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