The Brooklyn Nets have a bold NBA Draft Day plan to trade Cam Johnson. It's so crazy that it may end up working.
After falling a couple of spots down the NBA Draft board after the NBA Draft Lottery, not all is lost for the Brooklyn Nets. They still reportedly have a plan to attempt to add another lottery pick before the 2025 NBA Draft. That plan would revolve around packaging Cam Johnson and one of their late first-round picks, or two of them, in an attempt to jump back into the lottery. Currently, the Nets are expected to pick No. 8 overall. However, the hope - or master plan - for the Nets is that they'll be able to add an additional lottery pick before the draft.
Even though it was somewhat surprising that the Nets didn't trade Johnson at this past year's NBA Trade Deadline, there's an expectation that they will move closer to that possibility this offseason. That could very much be the case heading into the NBA Draft. The Nets have four first-round draft picks at their disposal and, if they wanted to package Johnson with some of those assets, they'd probably be able to move up the draft board.
Of course, the question is, how high could the Nets reasonably rise? That's a question that may be difficult to answer, but fun to speculate about.
What teams in the lottery could target Cam Johnson?
Looking at the teams that would theoretically be interested in Johnson, I'd suggest that the teams worth keeping a close eye on are the Houston Rockets at No. 10, the Chicago Bulls at No. 12, and the San Antonio Spurs at No. 14. Would Johnson and, for example, the 19th overall pick be worth it for any of these teams to to trade their lottery pick?
I could absolutely see the argument for the Spurs and Rockets. The Bulls may not be all that interested, especially as they are on the hunt for the next face of their franchise. Houston and San Antonio could feel that the addition of Johnson could make all the difference for the team heading into next season. However, Houston may need this asset as they look for a bigger star piece heading deeper into the offseason.
The Spurs have that No. 14 pick as somewhat of a luxury, especially after moving up to the No. 2 overall slot atop this draft.
Johnson is certainly a name to keep a close eye on heading into the NBA Draft. If the Nets do finally decide to part ways with him, it will likely be with the hope of moving into the lottery. Whether they can pull it off remains to be seen, but it's not that outlandish of a plan.