Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks Outlines Next Step for Cam Johnson

Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks wants Cam Johnson to “take on more of a leadership role” going forward.

“He carries a big voice, he's well respected with his teammates, they love him, he's about the right stuff, and I think [...] that’s what you want,” Marks said during his end-of-season media appearance.

Johnson just enjoyed the best season of his NBA career. He averaged a career-high 18.8 points and 3.4 assists while making 39% of his threes. The 29-year-old is in the second year of his four-year, $94.5 million contract with the Nets. Johnson was heavily pursued by teams across the league ahead of this season’s Feb. 6 trade deadline.

“There was no shortage of teams calling on him,” Marks said. “He's a good player, and they value him, but so do we.”

Ultimately, the Nets stayed put with Johnson. He effectively created a “bidding war,” reports at one point indicated, and was linked with the Golden State Warriors, Sacramento Kings, Indiana Pacers and others.

Johnson’s contract, while not outwardly massive, is a tricky fit for teams thanks to the NBA’s current collective bargaining agreement (CBA). This CBA places more of an emphasis on cheaper, value contracts, rather than two or three big contracts taking up the bulk of a roster. Also, Johnson’s deal contains some unlikely bonuses, making a trade for him even less straightforward. He is an unrestricted free agent in 2027.

“I would definitely like to know everything that's going on — I understand that I'm not going to be let in on every decision or have [a] say it every decision — but I would like to know going forward,” Johnson said about a possible trade. “But it is also my job to, at this point, work on myself, get better and handle whatever comes, all being a pro in the situation.”

For now, the Nets are in “zero hurry to move on” from a player like the sharpshooting wing, Marks said. Johnson hasn’t implied that he’d rather be elsewhere, either, with his message remaining the same since the start of the season. The New Zealand-born executive praised the North Carolina product’s scalability across contexts and rosters.

“I can't think of a pathway or a team or an organization that Cam doesn't fit in,” the Nets GM said. “There's so many ways you can build this with Cam Johnson. I mean, you want high character individuals here, and that's exactly what he is. He's a high character guy who you're gonna see consistency from every day.”