Reason #2 For Trading For Johnson: A Contract That Should Age Well
In a game where teams are limited by a salary cap, you always have to account for a player's contract when you are thinking about acquiring them.
For Johnson, he is entering the second year of a four-year, 94.5 million dollar deal (90 million of that is guaranteed). That's an average annual salary of roughly 23.6 million dollars (per Spotrac). That may seem like a lot right now, but you have to factor in that the salary cap is growing by a pretty significant amount every season. So, what you should pay attention to is the percentage of the salary cap Johnson's contract is eating up.
Season | Amount | Estimated % Of Salary Cap |
|---|---|---|
2023-24 | 25.7 million | 18.88% |
2024-25 | 23.6 million | 16.80% |
2025-26 | 21.6 million | 13.91% |
2026-27 | 23.6 million | 13.85% |
Not only is the highest paid year of his salary already paid for by the Nets (since 2023-24 has come and gone), but that is also the season he takes up the highest amount of the salary cap.
For reference, next year, Harrison Barnes will be taking up 12.8% of the Kings' available salary cap. That means that by the end of Johnson's contract, he'll be utilizing a similar amount of the Kings' resources to what Barnes is doing right now. And one could argue that Johnson, at the end of his contract (age-30 season), will be a better player than Barnes is right now.