Sports
NBA free agency 2023: Nets, Cameron Johnson agree to 4-year, $108 million contract, per report – CBS Sports
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Restricted free agent Cameron Johnson will re-sign with the Brooklyn Nets on a four-year, $108 million contract, agent Steven Heumann told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Johnson joined the Nets as part of the blockbuster Kevin Durant trade in February.
The Nets got the deal done in the first hour of free agency, after trading Joe Harris, their longest-tenured player, to the Detroit Pistons earlier in the day. The Harris trade not only created a $19.9 million traded player exception — with that and the $18.1 million exception acquired in the Durant deal, Brooklyn has the two largest TPEs in the NBA — it took one of Johnson’s reported suitors out of the picture. With Harris on their books, the Pistons did not have the cap space necessary to issue Johnson an offer sheet.
Johnson, 27, bet on himself when, as a member of the Phoenix Suns, he turned down a four-year extension worth about $72 million, per Yahoo Sports’ Jake Fischer. That bet has paid off handsomely, after showing toward the end of the 2022-23 season that he could do more with the ball in his hands than he did in Phoenix. In the final 13 games, Johnson averaged 16.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 31.9 minutes, while shooting 50.3% and making 41.2% of his 3s. In the second game of Brooklyn’s second-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers, he went off for 28 points on 11-for-19 shooting.
The Nets crossed off the No. 1 item on their to-do list on Friday, securing a core player on a long-term deal without having to deal with an offer sheet. From here, their offseason could go numerous ways. Between the draft picks they acquired in the Durant trade, the aforementioned trade exceptions and their proven veterans on team-friendly contracts (Dorian Finney-Smith, Royce O’Neale), they have ways to bring in more talent. They could also choose to stay relatively quiet and continue building around Mikal Bridges, Nic Claxton and Johnson.
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