After trading Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks, the Brooklyn Nets have signaled to the NBA world that they are in rebuild mode. As a result, one of the pieces they will be looking to sell off is Cameron Johnson. One of the teams that has expressed some interest in the 28-year-old forward is our Sacramento Kings.
But what are the benefits of trading for Johnson? What are the downsides? In this article, we avoid talking about the specifics of what a potential Johnson trade would look like (although I do pitch an idea at the very end), and instead, we will focus on the pros and cons of bringing Johnson to Sacramento.
Reason #1 For Trading For Johnson: Guaranteed Marksman
Of all the wings/forwards the Kings have been rumored to be interested in (Jerami Grant, Kyle Kuzma, and Brandon Ingram), none of them are the caliber of marksman that Johnson is.
Player | 3-Point % | 3-Point Attempts Per 75 Possessions |
|---|---|---|
Jerami Grant | 40.2% | 5.6 |
Brandon Ingram | 35.5% | 4.2 |
Cameron Johnson | 39.1% | 8.1 |
Kyle Kuzma | 33.6% | 6.9 |
Last season, Johnson shot 39.1% from three, and that wasn't just some weird statistical anomaly (we know that 3-point shooting can be prone to high degrees of variance). In fact, in every year of his career except 2020-21, Johnson has shot at least 39% from three or higher, even shooting 42.5% (97th percentile, per Dunks & Threes) from three in 2021-22.
On top of that, Johnson takes a high volume of threes (which is actually more important for spacing than efficiency). Last season, he was in the 87th percentile in 3-point attempts per 75 possessions. He's been in the 87th percentile or higher in this category every year of his career.
Between him and Keegan Murray (the all-time leader in threes made as a rookie), the Kings would have themselves one of the best spacing forward duos in the NBA (if not the best).