{"id":114975,"date":"2024-12-30T11:04:30","date_gmt":"2024-12-30T16:04:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=114975"},"modified":"2024-12-30T11:04:30","modified_gmt":"2024-12-30T16:04:30","slug":"nba-insider-potential-memphis-grizzlies-trade-target-cameron-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/30\/nba-insider-potential-memphis-grizzlies-trade-target-cameron-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA Insider Names New Potential Memphis Grizzlies Trade Target"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past few days, the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/29\/nba-rumors-grizzlies-offer-nets-lakers-dorian-finney-smith\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Memphis Grizzlies<\/a> reportedly pursued a trade for <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/30\/ideal-minimum-ben-simmons-nets-scenario-is-now-unlikely\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Brooklyn Nets<\/a> forward <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/finnedo01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-12-30_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dorian Finney-Smith<\/a>. However, on Sunday, the Nets shipped Finney-Smith out to the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/30\/grade-the-trade-lakers-acquire-finney-smith-updated-cap-picks\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/r\/russeda01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-12-30_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">D&#8217;Angelo Russell<\/a>. Following their failed pursuit, the Grizzlies could pivot and aim for another trade target.\u00a0<span style=\"box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;\">According to NBA insider Marc Stein (<a href=\"https:\/\/marcstein.substack.com\/p\/sunday-best-how-and-why-the-lakers\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">subscription required<\/a>), this is a legitimate possibility for the Grizzlies, who could target another Nets forward\u2014<\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/johnsca02.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-12-30_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cameron Johnson<\/a>.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;It will surprise no one around the league if Memphis, after such extensive talks with Brooklyn on Finney-Smith, pivots to a Johnson pursuit,&#8221; Stein wrote.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h2>NBA Insider Names New Potential Memphis Grizzlies Trade Target<\/h2>\n<h3>What Cameron Johnson Would Bring to Memphis<\/h3>\n<p>Johnson is one of the best available players in the trade market. Given that Brooklyn has already moved on from Finney-Smith and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/schrode01.html?utm_medium=linker&amp;utm_source=lastwordonsports.com&amp;utm_campaign=2024-12-30_bbr\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dennis Schr\u00f6der<\/a>, we know they are active this season. Johnson is a talented player, but he is 28 years old and does not completely fit the Nets&#8217; timeline. He does, however, fit Memphis&#8217; timeline as a team looking to contend for a championship now and in the future.<\/p>\n<p>The Pennsylvania native is 6&#8217;8&#8243; and can play both forward positions. He is in the midst of his sixth season in the league but is having a career year. Through 30 games, Johnson is averaging 19.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.1 assists. Additionally, he is shooting 48.8% from the field and 42.9% from beyond the arc. Johnson also provides solid defense.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for Memphis, trading for Johnson will not be cheap. According to Stein, the Nets are &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/29\/nba-rumors-nets-multiple-first-round-picks-cam-johnson\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">seeking multiple first-round picks<\/a>&#8221; in exchange for Johnson. Stein also acknowledges this may be a bit too steep of an asking price, however.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;The Nets are now said to be seeking multiple first-round picks from teams interested in trading for sharpshooter Cam Johnson. Can they really expect to get more than one first-rounder for Johnson after the deals just witnessed for Schr\u00f6der and Finney-Smith?&#8221;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3>The Last Word<\/h3>\n<p>The Grizzlies are looking like a legitimate contender out West. Approaching 2025, the Grizzlies currently own a 22-11 record and own the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. Additionally, they rank as the sixth-best offensive team and the fourth-best defensive team in the NBA. They are the highest-scoring team in the league and have a +8.7 net rating (the fourth-best in the NBA) as well.<\/p>\n<p>Last season, Memphis&#8217; season was derailed by numerous brutal injuries. This year, while they are still dealing with a lot of injuries, they have reminded everybody how good they can be. In 2022 and 2023, the Grizzlies finished as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. Since then, the team has gotten better and should remain comfortably in the title picture this season.<\/p>\n<p>Memphis does not\u00a0<em>need<\/em> to make a trade. They have an extremely talented roster and have proven to be a top team in the league. However, the West is competitive, and it will be difficult for the Grizzlies to defeat a team like the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/29\/thunder-looking-for-best-regular-season-franchise-history\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> in a playoff series. Until the trade deadline passes in February, the Grizzlies will be a team to monitor.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past few days, the Memphis Grizzlies reportedly pursued a trade for Brooklyn Nets forward Dorian Finney-Smith. However, on Sunday, the Nets shipped Finney-Smith out to the Los Angeles Lakers for D&#8217;Angelo Russell. Following their failed pursuit, the Grizzlies could pivot and aim for another trade target.\u00a0According to NBA insider Marc Stein (subscription required), [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4631,"featured_media":93022,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,2,32,62,3,4721],"tags":[1899],"class_list":["post-114975","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-featured","category-grizzlies","category-nba","category-news","category-trade-rumors","tag-cameron-johnson"],"modified_by":"Elie Deglaoui","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114975","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114975"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114975\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":114983,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114975\/revisions\/114983"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93022"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114975"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114975"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114975"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}