The Denver Nuggets have a good guard in Jamal Murray to run pick and rolls with Nikola Jokic. They have a great forward in Aaron Gordon who can cut and play off of him. The other two spots on the floor need to be filled by guys who can play defense and shoot 3-pointers.
They got one wing who fit the bill perfectly in Kentavious Caldwell-Pope back in 2022, who was an instrumental piece in Denver’s run to a title in 2023. With KCP now on the Magic after they offered him more money than former Nuggets general manager Calvin Booth could fork over and Michael Porter Jr. reaching his ceiling in the Mile High city, the Nuggets needed to find another wing in his place, and did so with Cam Johnson.
Johnson appeared on “The Dawg Talk Podcast” recently, hosted by KCP, and the two were able to share the thought processes they had when they got to Denver and realized the talent that they were playing with.
Cam Johnson went on KCP’s @Thedawgtalkpod and talked about being traded to Denver.
“Jok, best player in the world…” pic.twitter.com/k4I7wpQC5F
— Grace (@ErinBurr27) July 17, 2025
“I get traded to Denver, and my first thought is like, Jok, Mal, AG, is like, ‘alright, now I get a chance to actually compete for a championship’,” Johnson said. “I don’t know how many teams you can say can compete for a championship year in and year out, but I feel like this team right now, they’ve shown it.”
Johnson, who’s heading into his seventh NBA season out of North Carolina, recently talked about some similar points with new Nuggets acquisition Tim Hardaway Jr. on “The Young Man and The Three” podcast. It’s clear that he’s ready to get with Nikola Jokic, the best player in the world, once he gets back from playing in EuroBasket with Serbia.
“Jok, best player in the world. The opportunities he opens up offensively, and I started thinking like ‘how am I going to fit into this system’,” Johnson said.
Caldwell-Pope was agreeing with Johnson on everything he said, saying how he also thought about his fit in the system alongside Jokic when he first got traded and how he was excited when he realized he was playing with the trio of Jokic, Murray and Gordon. If Johnson is sharing the same thought process with a player who came to Denver and instantly impacted the winning culture, that’s a great sign.
The 6-foot-8 forward scored a career-high 18.8 points per game on .475/.390/.893 shooting in 57 games for the Nets last season. He also set a new career high with 3.4 assists per contest and stacked 4.3 rebounds a game. His fit on the Nuggets will be a great one, and he knows that. Especially given the fact that he’s making half the salary of Michael Porter Jr., he allows for better plays to be on the bench, on top of his scoring off the dribble and defensive capabilities.
