2 Reasons the Kings should and 2 reasons they shouldn't trade for Cameron Johnson

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.

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).

Reason #1 Against Trading For Johnson: Doesn't Fit Their Defensive Style

Domantas Sabonis is an incredible offensive player. However, he does have a very major limitation as a defender: rim protection (15th percentile in block rate among centers last season, per Cleaning the Glass).

Now, you can still build a great defense around a center who is not a strong rim protector. But to do so, you need to make sure that you get as much rim protection from your other positions as possible.

The Kings know this, and you can tell they are trying to do this by accumulating as many positive positional rim protectors (Devin Carter, Isaiah Crawford, Keon Ellis, Malik Monk, and Keegan Murray) as possible.

Unfortunately, Johnson is not someone who could aid in this crusade. Despite being 6'8.5 with a 6'10 wingspan, Johnson is a poor positional rim protector, only placing in the 24th percentile among forwards in block rate last year.

This doesn't mean Johnson is a bad defender (he was in the 54th percentile in Defensive Estimated Plus-Minus). He's just not the kind of defender who can really help this Kings team.

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.

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.

Reason #2 Against Trading For Johnson: Probably Doesn't Raise Their Ceiling Enough

With teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder, Philadelphia 76ers, Dallas Mavericks, and the aforementioned Knicks all making big splashes this offseason, the Kings know they need to make a big move if they hope to graduate to anything more than first round fodder.

The question then becomes: is trading for Johnson enough to make the Kings a serious contender?

Well, it isn't that cut and dry because he wouldn't be the only improvement the Kings have made this offseason. In the 2024 NBA Draft, the Kings added promising players like Carter and Crawford (someone I am really high on). Plus, they are bound to get some internal improvement from youngsters like Murray, Ellis, and Colby Jones. So, we need to factor in those changes alongside the potential acquisition of Johnson when we ask ourselves that question.

Even with that extra context added, I still don't think that adding Johnson would be enough to make the Kings an inner-circle title contender. Even if they only have to give up Barnes and some draft capital (see my trade suggestion below) to get him (meaning they can keep Kevin Huerter), the Kings just feel like a really deep team that has a really high floor but an unspectacular ceiling.

The Bottom Line

On paper, Johnson would be a really nice offensive fit for this Kings team, given his spacing and movement shooting. And he's under contract for another three years at a pretty fair rate.

However, he doesn't fulfill the biggest defensive need they have for a power forward (rim protection), and he isn't that much of an upgrade over Barnes to say that adding him will definitely vault the Kings into contender status.

Overall, I wouldn't be mad if the Kings traded for Johnson (for the right price), but I think they should look for a bigger name.