The Brooklyn Nets pulled off one of the biggest moves of the 2025 NBA offseason when they traded forward Cam Johnson to the Denver Nuggets for forward Michael Porter Jr. While it is debatable amongst Brooklyn fans which player is better for this stage of the rebuild, some of the talk around the league is pertaining to the first-round pick the Nets received.

"That was a prized asset they gave up," ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst reported in a conversation with a source described as an NBA general manager. The duo wrote this within an article addressing various storylines around the NBA with free-agency having been active for almost one week, especially with players like Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James who seem to have less-than-ideal futures.

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"Teams have been eyeing that one to see if they'd actually use it," Bontemps and Windhorst continued. To recap the trade between the Nets and Nuggets, Brooklyn traded Johnson to Denver in exchange for Porter Jr. and a first-round pick from the Nuggets that will convey in 2032, seven years from the writing of this piece which can be better described as an eternity in the NBA.

Essentially, Brooklyn achieved one of its main goals this offseason when it came to using some of their salary cap to acquire players from teams looking to shed payroll in exchange for said players and something extra. In the case of Porter, whose numbers are similar to Johnson in many regards, the Nuggets needed to do something to lower their luxury tax penalties while improving the team around perennial MVP candidate Nikola Jokic.

The Nets basically took on Porter, thereby increasing their salary cap by $17 million as the difference between what he and Johnson will be earning next season, for the chance at getting a draft pick that is clearly held in high regard around the Association. By the time the 2032 NBA Draft comes around, Jokic will be 37 years old while Jamal Murray will be 35 years old. That pick gives Brooklyn more choices than most teams.

This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets gained a prized asset in their trade with the Nuggets, per NBA GM