Cameron Johnson: ‘Nuggets could come out West next year’

Cameron Johnson still has faith in his Denver Nuggets as true contenders in 2027, saying as much this week on an episode of his podcast, The Old Man and The Three.

The Nuggets won 54 games but flamed out of the first round to a banged-up Wolves group in Johnson’s first season in Denver. He was limited to 54 games due to a December knee injury but the team was better when he was available. The veteran wing scored just 12 points per game but stepped it up in the final game of the postseason, with a 27-point performance. The issue is, it was one of just two games this year when Johnson scored 25 or more points, something Michael Porter Jr. did frequently.

The Nuggets traded MPJ and a future first for Johnson, who ultimately had an up-and-down year. Now he’s the subject of trade rumors as Denver tries to save money while having to deal with extensions to Aaron Gordon and Christian Braun kicking in and wants to bring back restricted free agent Peyton Watson. That could leave Johnson, who is on an expiring deal, as the odd man out.

“San Antonio came into the season not expected to be that group,” he said. “They weren’t expected to come out of the West, but they established that they’re major players in this game now — and so are the Thunder. I believe we are right there with them, and so it puts a lot of fire on us in Denver.”

Johnson went on.

“I have no idea how the offseason will shake out. I have no idea what player movement will be. I know there’s a lot of rumor swirling around, but I watch these games and I see that like our Denver group, we can be that. I see that we can be that that team that comes out of the West next year. I thought we could have been it this year. And obviously some things didn’t go our way.”