After another exhilarating win against the Denver Nuggets, the Oklahoma City Thunder are 3-0 in this head-to-head season series.
Many view these teams as the top two in the league, and after the Nuggets made some serious changes in the offseason, it was widely believed that they might have turned the tide to usurp OKC as top dogs.
The most significant shake-up to the roster was the trade that swapped Michael Porter Jr. for Cameron Johnson. Plenty of people saw this move as an upgrade, with Johnson providing improved passing, point-of-attack defense, and on-ball creation.
However, the forward has been an extreme disappointment this season, and in the two games against OKC, he has been a non-factor, potentially foreshadowing a more lopsided playoff series than last year.
Cameron Johnson's disappearance on offense could benefit Thunder
In his two matchups against the Thunder this season, Cam Johnson has disappeared, averaging a mediocre 6.5 points and 5.5 rebounds while shooting roughly 25.0 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from three.
Of course, two games are an extremely small sample size, but his impact is obvious. Johnson spends countless possessions completely uninvolved in the offense, being a spot-up shooter who provides minimal off-ball movement and draws little defensive attention.
When trading for him, he was expected to create his own shot in addition to solid off-ball work, but this hasn't been the case.
He has become a bland offensive player who often struggles even to get other players involved when he has the ball.
Of course, these offensive woes have not been limited to OKC this season. Johnson is posting his least efficient and lowest-scoring marks since the 2020-21 season, averaging only 11.1 points on 44.4 percent shooting.
Johnson's health has also been subpar this season, only playing 39 games and even getting banged up in the latest matchup against the Thunder before returning later in the second half.
On the opposite side, the, now, Brooklyn-based Porter absolutely flourished in a tertiary role with the club.
Michael Porter Jr. still had major impact despite shooting struggles
Porter struggled mightily against OKC in the playoffs while playing through an upper-body injury. He only reached double-digit scoring twice in the seven-game series, but his presence was still always felt.
Additionally, aside from his playoff struggles, he had success in this matchup. In his last two regular seasons with the Nuggets, Porter averaged over 18 points and nearly nine rebounds, shooting over 42.0 percent from behind the arc.
MPJ can get his shot off over anybody and from anywhere. With this constant threat, the Thunder still needed to give him heavy defensive attention. He was frequently running to shots off screens, forcing the defense to try and go over picks and leaving them more vulnerable to easy shots from other players.
Now missing his presence, Denver stars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray are facing even more aggressive coverages.
Though this move may have made sense at the time, trading Porter for Johnson leaves the OKC Thunder with the potential to handle the Denver Nuggets in a playoff series comfortably.