OKC Thunder Trade Rumor: GM Sam Presti eyes $22 million Brooklyn Nets star forward to bolster team rotations

The Oklahoma City Thunder are one of the top teams to win the NBA championship this season. With the trade deadline coming up in February, general manager Sam Presti is looking for a way to make the team even better. One player they are interested in is Brooklyn Nets forward Cam Johnson. Since the Nets have already made two trades this season, the real question is not whether Johnson is available, but how much it will cost them.

Many fans were surprised that the Los Angeles Lakers didn’t get Johnson when they traded for Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton from the Nets last week. The Lakers probably didn’t have enough draft picks to meet Brooklyn’s demands.

The Oklahoma City Thunder don’t have this problem. They have a lot of draft picks, including five first-round picks this year and four in 2026. This gives them the chance to outbid any other team for Johnson.

The Thunder are currently 27-5 and on a 12-game winning streak (their loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA Cup Finals doesn’t count in the standings). Adding Johnson would make them even stronger. The six-foot-eight small forward is having the best season of his career, averaging a career-high 19.1 points per game and posting his best numbers for assists (3.1) and free-throw shooting (88.9%).

Johnson is also a strong defender, which fits perfectly with the Thunder’s top-ranked defense. His size lets him guard any player on the perimeter, and he would work well with Alex Caruso, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jalen Williams to stop opposing players.

On the Nets, Johnson had to do more because the team was short on players, but with the Thunder, he won’t need to do as much. He can focus on playing off the ball and use SGA’s skills.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have a lot of young talent, so making a trade could risk upsetting the team’s chemistry. But Johnson has shown that he’s willing to play a supporting role, whether it was with the Phoenix Suns alongside Devin Booker and Mikal Bridges or with the Nets alongside Cam Thomas, Bridges, and Dennis Schroder.

The Thunder’s many draft picks will likely never be used by the team, so Presti should use them to complete the roster. Johnson is a great fit because of his skills and contract. His deal runs until the end of the 2026-27 season for about $22 million per year. This trade wouldn’t just help in the short-term, but it would also be a good long-term investment.

The Nets didn’t get any first-round picks in their trades for Schroder, Finney-Smith, and Milton, but Johnson will probably need at least one first-round pick, along with a player or two to match salaries. This is a price the Thunder should be happy to pay.

The OKC Thunder insider Clemente Almanza spoke with Nets insider Sharif Phillips-Keaton last week about a possible trade, and they came up with a deal that could help both teams. In this trade, Johnson would go to OKC in exchange for Aaron Wiggins, Kenrich Williams, a 2025 top-six protected first-round pick, and a 2028 first-round swap with the Mavericks.

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This trade would be a clear upgrade for the Thunder, and they would only be giving up two players who don’t play a big role on the team. The draft pick and swap wouldn’t hurt OKC much, but Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks might ask for more because:

- The Thunder have more picks than they know what to do with,

- Marks knows the Presti is motivated to make a deal to increase his team’s title chances, and

- He knows that Presti won’t want to see Johnson traded to one of OKC’s rivals instead.

The sooner the OKC Thunder make the trade, the sooner they can start using Johnson. Getting extra practice time could be helpful, even if the playoffs are still months away.