Mikal Bridges: Cam Johnson ‘definitely knows I want him here and nowhere else’
Nets star Mikal Bridges said he’s doing everything to convince restricted free agent Cam Johnson to stay in Brooklyn. But Bridges doesn’t sign the checks. Nor does he have any control over competing offers.
Speaking to reporters after autographing close to 200 posters and miscellaneous items as part of a community event with G Fuel just blocks away from Barclays Center, the 83-game man said he sends no shortage of reminders to Johnson, who is set to field multiple offer sheets this offseason. And some are expected to exceed the Nets’ level of comfort this summer.
“Every time I talk to him it’s always that,” Bridges said on Saturday at The Vitamin Shoppe in downtown Brooklyn. “When I text him or talk to him, he knows what’s on my mind. He definitely knows I want him here and nowhere else.”
The Nets hold first right of refusal with Johnson, meaning they can match any competing offer sheet he signs this offseason. However, with both the financial and roster-building ramifications of the “second apron,” an addition to the new collective bargaining agreement that penalizes teams for increased spending, the right kind of competing offer could put the Nets in a bind.
The Detroit Pistons, for example, are reportedly preparing to extend Johnson an offer sheet in excess of four years, $100M, according to The Athletic, and are hoping his prior relationship with ex-Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams swings Johnson in their favor.
The Nets, however, already have $145M in payroll dedicated to the current 2023-24 roster. Matching an offer sheet at $25M annually would bring Brooklyn to a $160M payroll, and signing both first-round picks Noah Clowney and Dariq Whitehead brings the Nets to $165.5M.
If the Pistons were to make an offer of $30M annually, it would undoubtedly be an overpay for a player with zero All-Star appearances. But it would be impossible for the Nets to match without performing cap gymnastics, and they’ll only have 48 hours to do so after Johnson signs an offer before losing him in free agency.
Such a $30M offer would bring the Nets to $175M in payroll next season without accounting for the two rookies, who are set to earn $5.5M in combined salary this upcoming season. The second apron is set to impose significant penalties on teams that exceed a $179M payroll.
In order to retain Johnson and stay under the second apron, the Nets would have to trade at least one player in a salary dump. As a related note, Ben Simmons makes a combined $77M over the next two seasons and continues to work through back issues that have kept him either unavailable or significantly limited since his arrival in Brooklyn as part of the James Harden trade.
Bridges, for what it’s worth, said he doesn’t have any input with the Nets’ front office on offseason roster moves.
“Not really. Maybe about free agency, but I kinda let them do their job and I just be here,” the Nets’ star said over the weekend. “If they wanna ask me about anything, obviously I’m here, but they get paid to do that and I trust ‘em and I just sit back and watch just like everybody else.”
He is excited at the opportunity to represent Team USA alongside Johnson this summer.
“It’s an honor. It really is and just appreciative that they asked me to be a part of it. I don’t think ‘no’ was even an option in my head. I just felt blessed to even have that opportunity,” Bridges said. “It’s gonna be dope to have him, us again. It’s gonna be really dope.”
SIMMONS IN GOOD SPIRITS
Just 45 minutes after Bridges finished autographing items near Barclays Center, Nets veteran guard Patty Mills unveiled the Indigenous Flow mural on 36th & 5th Ave in Brooklyn. Mills, who will play for Team Australia this summer while Simmons continues to rehab his back, said his teammate and countryman is working hard to get back to the court.
“From what I’ve heard, he’s looking after his body and getting to his shape and health that I think everyone wants and needs him to be,” he told a small group of reporters in Sunset Park on Saturday. “So I think first and foremost for him, it’s just about getting to that part where he can be Ben again.
“Obviously a full offseason of healthy rehab, healthy workouts both in the gym & on the court, I think is what he’s looking at. From what I’ve heard, he’s looking good, feeling good, and we’ll see how we roll out from then. But I think until then, we’ve just gotta wait and see.”
