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The Brooklyn Nets trading Dennis Schroder confirmed the team is not just in a rebuilding season but a tanking one. With the team exceeding expectations, Cam Johnson and Dorian Finney-Smith headline the candidates to be moved next. Johnson opened up about how roster uncertainty affects a rebuilding team.
“The thing that pushes a lot of success in team sports is buy-in and pride in what you’re doing,” Johnson said on The Young Man and the Three podcast. “And so, the best way to achieve success on a team level is when that buy-in and that pride are at all-time highs, when it’s peaking. Because that’s when the camaraderie, that’s when everything starts to flow, the synergy, and you’re able to play your best ball as a team. There’s a lot that gets in the way of it on a professional level, and one of those things can be uncertainty of your future, whether it’s yourself getting traded, whether it’s your teammates getting traded, anything like that.”
“Just those little shreds of doubt can be very difficult for teams to overcome because the margin for error is always really small. It’s a little bit of lack of communication, a little bit of a lack of trust, and just a tiny bit of disinterred feelings from any one player out of five, and how good players are at the professional level, you’re gonna get exposed. So a lot of elements at play anytime this comes up, and if you’re on a team where trade speculation is high, you could maybe potentially assume that comes with it.”
While Johnson spoke about the difficulties of playing through a rebuild, he's played the best basketball of his career this season.
Cam Johnson continues to shine through trade speculation for Nets
Johnson continued his stellar 2024-25 campaign on Thursday during a 101-94 win over Toronto Raptors. The 28-year-old posted a game-high 33 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and 11-of-12 from the free-throw line with 10 rebounds, six assists and two blocks. It marks his third 30-point game in 26 appearances this season. He reached the mark three times in his first five seasons combined.
With the Nets trailing by six entering the fourth quarter, Johnson scored 15 points in the final frame as Brooklyn outscored Toronto 31-18 to seal the win. In addition to his scoring, he posted two assists as his teammates shot 7-of-14 in the decisive period.
“He creates a lot of attention because he moves and teams have to guard him that way,” said head coach Jordi Fernandez. “Sometimes you get all the guys open just because of his ability to get himself open and move around and screen and run off screens. So all of his performance, not just his scoring, also his free-throws, 10 rebounds, six assists, two turnovers, it's a great line right there. It's impressive.”
As trade speculation grows, Johnson continues to showcase why he will be one of the most sought-after players on the market. The 6-foot-8 sharpshooter has averaged a career-high 19.2 points and 3.1 assists per game on 49/43/87 shooting splits. He ranks fourth in three-point percentage among 50 players to attempt over 150, trailing only Norman Powell, Kyrie Irving and Zach Lavine.
Following Mikal Bridges' departure, Johnson has seen an expanded role in Brooklyn's offense.
“I feel the transition. I get the ball in my hands a little bit more and I'm able to playmake a little bit more in different actions. A lot of it is due to the nature of the actions that we run and how I factor into that,” he said. “Trying to use ball pressure and gravity to my advantage and freeing up everybody else at the same time. It's different, but I'd say it doesn't feel odd, awkward, or anything like that. I love to hoop, I love going out there in playing. And I just wanna win at the end of the day. So I'll do whatever it takes.”
“And sometimes in my career, that's been sitting in the corner a little bit more and looking for opportunities and playing off some really good players. And sometimes it's been a little bit more active with the ball. And for me, it's just continuing to get better every day, no matter what my role is on the court, and continuing to find ways to contribute to winning basketball.”
The Nets have continued to outperform expectations through injuries, trades, and speculation about their tanking direction. Thursday's win brings Brooklyn to 11-16, putting them on pace for 33 wins after entering the year with an 18.5-win projection.
While the rebuilding season has brought no shortage of hurdles, Johnson said the team's players know what's at stake every time they step on the floor.
“A rebuild, that’s maybe the team re-tooling in some way, it could be a death sentence to somebody’s career,” he continued on The Young Man and the Three. “So there’s maybe a ninth or tenth man on a rebuilding team that never sees another minute in the NBA. It happens all the time. Like those are guys that get cut out of the league. So from a player’s perspective, we never want to lay down and lose. On one hand, losing always sucks, we hate it, we’d much rather win. But on the other hand, it’s your livelihood on the line. Like your job is on the line.”
“So it is not in any player’s best interest to just sit there and lose. So it’s hard to come to terms with if you feel like you’re in a situation where winning is not the priority… Inherently, we want to compete at a high level and it can bother you deeply when you’re not.”
