Haunted by his missed opportunity to secure a season-affirming win for the Nuggets, Cam Johnson was the last to leave the locker room in Oklahoma City. It was Feb. 27, an emotional night stamped by Nikola Jokic’s fury and punctuated by the Thunder’s flex of roster depth in overtime.
Johnson sat at his locker and stared into space as the minutes passed, as his teammates got dressed and filtered out. He knew the game had been on his fingertips, and there was nothing that could be said to console him in the immediate aftermath of a bitter loss. Nikola Jokic had located him for an open corner 3-pointer in the last 10 seconds of regulation. The overused adage about a make-or-miss league was accurate in this case. Johnson missed, and Denver fell short in OT.
For that to be his moment of maximum national exposure since joining the Nuggets might have exacerbated the notion that he’s been a failed experiment. The full body of work as a shooter says otherwise: Johnson is 40.9% from 3-point range on 4.4 attempts per game, with percentages of 40 or higher from both corners and above the break. He’s a plus-9.8 per 100 possessions when sharing the court with Jokic, a plus-0.5 without him and a plus-2.5 without Jokic or Murray at his side. The Nuggets are 25-15 when he plays, a better win percentage than when he doesn’t.
Yet an undeniable feeling has lingered — for both Johnson and outside observers — that his fit in Denver has been awkward, his involvement in the offense inconsistent, his confidence elusive. At least to the extent that his role remains a work in progress with one month to go in the regular season.
“There’s definitely still an element of figuring it out, and it kind of changes on me a little bit from here to there, just based on how we’re playing and who’s playing,” he said. “But everybody keeps telling me at the end of the day, just be myself. … At the end of the day, just go out there and hoop and have fun. That’s easy to lose sight of in the long term and in the short term. But when you kind of reel it back to that and focus on just having fun, playing hard, trusting your teammates and vice versa, you’re setting yourself up for good things to happen.”
Cameron Johnson (23) and Christian Braun (0) of the Denver Nuggets look into the stands during the fourth quarter against the Houston Rockets at Ball Arena in Denver on Wednesday, March 11, 2026. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)
Trying to be more decisive
The box score and eye test Wednesday indicated that Johnson accomplished that goal in a 129-93 rout of the Rockets. Denver’s small forward went for 17 points, two rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals. His bounce-back performance included a 3-for-5 outside shooting clip. It was his first game with more than 11 points since Feb. 20 and only his third exceeding that number (his season average) since the knee injury he suffered Dec. 23.
The Nuggets improved to 14-6 when he shoots nine or more times from the field.
What’s been challenging — and ambiguous — for them to parse is how infrequently he’s taken that many shots. His predecessor and trade counterpart, Michael Porter Jr., attempted nine or more in 72 of his 77 games last year.
As that discrepancy crystallized early this season, David Adelman insisted that it wasn’t a bad thing. Johnson’s impact was subtler, less forceful. More intellectual. His feel for relocation and how it could benefit Denver’s spacing. His judgment as a connector. Even after another mini-slump, Denver has a better offensive rating with Johnson on the floor than with Porter last season. A larger share of the pie has belonged to Jamal Murray, who made his first All-Star team.
It’s been clear for some time now: The Nuggets don’t need Johnson to be MPJ. They don’t need him to replicate the raw numbers.
They do need him to fulfill what Adelman described last offseason as a “premium on timely shooting,” however, because basketball at its core is often a game of the id. Jokic and Murray will be swarmed by playoff defenses. The ball will be reversed to Johnson in nerve-racking moments. The Nuggets will need him to be a willing aggressor when those moments arrive.
“I think I’ve found myself being way too indecisive for too long in the season,” he said. “And just trying to figure out where plays are and coverages are and actions are and the spacing of teammates. … It’s just a little bit of being more decisive.”
“I think sometimes, he’s trying to make perfect plays, instead of just making the play that is right there in front of you (that) is the right decision,” Adelman said. “… These guys have to find their rhythm. They come back. As he finds his rhythm and then new people come back, and the rotation changes, and it feels different, everyone’s trying to do the right thing for the guy next to him. Sometimes, it stunts flow.”
Johnson first hit his stride in November, as other Nuggets were dropping like flies. He never quite found his footing during the 10-game stretch before that, when Denver was fully healthy and fully operational to start the season. Now he’s had four months to reflect on those 10 games while waiting for his next chance to play with that lineup again, as originally conceived. The reunited Nuggets were three games in after their win over Houston.
“I see just what I was trying to figure out then,” Johnson said, looking back. “It’s just a work in progress. We still have to get P-Wat back, too. That’s another element that adds a really crucial dimension to our team. But I think everybody as a team is going through the same thing. Everybody’s going through the same thing. Where can I be most effective in my contributions for the team?”
“… It becomes a personal responsibility of understanding how to be most efficient and be most, when I say efficient, just efficient in my impact on the game. That’s what I’ve been trying to navigate. Just today, take a step. Tomorrow, take a step. And keep on taking steps. Our goals are a lot bigger than tonight. Our goals are to keep playing deep into the spring and into early summer.”
As the numbers continue to back up his ability, the next step is to showcase it consistently in high-stakes games. Johnson hasn’t been part of a playoff win since 2022, and Denver will need him ready for heightened physicality in April. He struggled to leave a mark in both of Denver’s recent visits to Oklahoma City, combining for 13 points, 11 rebounds, two assists and three turnovers across 62 minutes. The understatedness of his role felt louder, more concerning. A missed shot left him dejected.
Whatever trance he was in that night in the locker room, he appeared to have snapped out of it Wednesday.
“I think Cam is naturally just hard on himself,” Christian Braun said. “And that’s good. He’s a guy that you love to have in the locker room. He’s such a great teammate. … He’s gonna be so big for us down the stretch. He’s gonna hit big shots. He’s gonna make big plays on both ends. And I think on defense, he’s been really good. So I don’t know that it’s been a tough year. Obviously, he had the injury and whatnot. But he’s playing well. He’s shooting the ball well. When he plays like he does tonight, we’re really tough to beat.”
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