{"id":115357,"date":"2024-12-31T20:23:47","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T01:23:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=115357"},"modified":"2024-12-31T20:23:47","modified_gmt":"2025-01-01T01:23:47","slug":"thunder-most-popular-trade-candidates-cam-johnson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/12\/31\/thunder-most-popular-trade-candidates-cam-johnson\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunder Eyeing One Of League’s Most Popular Trade Candidates"},"content":{"rendered":"

Because the Brooklyn Nets want multiple first-round picks for Cam Johnson<\/a>, he might not be traded before the Feb. 6 deadline. However, with several teams motivated to make a move for him, he’s among the players with the greatest chance of wearing a different jersey before the All-Star Break.<\/p>\n

With that in mind, there’s now a new contender for his services. According to HoopsHype insider Michael Scotto, “there were rumblings from NBA executives that the Oklahoma City Thunder had interest in pursuing<\/a> Johnson on the trade market” during the G League Showcase.<\/p>\n

Scotto adds that should the Thunder pursue Johnson, to “keep an eye on January 15 when Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe are each eligible to be traded.”<\/p>\n

Can Thunder Trade Candidate Cam Johnson Take Pressure Off Their Stars?<\/h2>\n

Because the Thunder are first in the Western Conference at 26-5, it may seem like they lack flaws.<\/p>\n

Mark Daigneault, the reigning Coach of the Year<\/a>, has done a fine job of getting the most out of his players. This is where his background in player development has really shined as 2018 No. 11 pick Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a> has emerged as a perennial MVP candidate. Additionally, 2022 No. 12 pick Jalen Williams<\/a> has displayed All-Star potential. Nonetheless, there’s more to the Thunder being 18-3 since Chet Holmgren<\/a>‘s hip injury than their blooming stars.<\/p>\n

Of course, the stellar\u00a0play of summertime signing Isaiah Hartenstein<\/a> has definitely made a difference. However, Daigneault has found success playing a number of players at center in Holmgren’s absence, including Williams, who is 6-foot-6. 6-foot-7 forward Kenrich Williams<\/a>, a 30-year-old who went undrafted out of TCU, has also done well as a small-ball center. 2021 No. 55 pick Aaron Wiggins<\/a> has had big time moments for the Thunder. 2024 No. 38 pick Ajay Mitchell<\/a> has been a revelation.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the fact of the matter is that Oklahoma City is heavily reliant on Gilgeous-Alexander and J. Williams. They can obviously handle that pressure but it would be nice if they had a release valve. If there’s a way to make the duo’s lives easier without taking the ball out of their hands too much, trading for a player like Johnson could be the answer.<\/p>\n

Remember Last Year?<\/h3>\n

There’s a certain aspect of this hypothetical that inspires images of last season’s trade for Gordon Hayward<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Both parties walked away disappointed with how the partnership worked out. Hayward wanted a larger role. Thunder general manager Sam Presti didn’t want to disrupt the development<\/a> of their young players. If OKC trades for Johnson during what’s been a career season, they could run into the same problems of expectations not matching the reality. On the surface, he seems like he would be amiable to a more passive role. Nonetheless, sometimes a player’s character doesn’t reveal itself until it’s too late.<\/p>\n

That being said, if Johnson is placed in a sixth man-like role, it could work out quite well for everyone.<\/p>\n

He’d be empowered to score. He fits alongside any combination of players. Honestly, it’s hard to come up with any negatives in this scenario.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Because the Brooklyn Nets want multiple first-round picks for Cam Johnson, he might not be traded before the Feb. 6 deadline. However, with several teams motivated to make a move for him, he’s among the players with the greatest chance of wearing a different jersey before the All-Star Break. With that in mind, there’s now […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":115387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_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":[22,1608,6,62,4721],"tags":[1781,49180,544],"class_list":["post-115357","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thunder","category-basketball","category-nets","category-nba","category-trade-rumors","tag-cam-johnson","tag-mark-daigneault","tag-sam-presti"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115357","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\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=115357"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115357\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":115388,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/115357\/revisions\/115388"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/115387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=115357"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=115357"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=115357"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}