Nets forward Cameron Johnson started his 41st game of the season on Friday vs. Orlando and has now met the “starter criteria” ahead of his restricted free agency.
As we outlined earlier in the week when Grant Williams achieved the same feat, a player is considered to have met the starter criteria when he starts at least 41 games or plays at least 2,000 minutes in the season before he becomes eligible for restricted free agency (or if he averages 41 starts or 2,000 minutes in the two seasons leading up to his free agency).
Johnson was primarily a reserve last season in Phoenix and then missed most of the first half of this season due to a torn meniscus, so it looked for a while as if he’d fall short of reaching the criteria. However, he started 16 of 17 games as a Sun this season and has started all 25 games he has played as a Net.
Johnson’s qualifying offer this summer will now be worth $8,486,620 instead of $7,744,600. That new figure is the equivalent of what the No. 9 pick in his draft class would receive.
Johnson’s new QO likely won’t have any real impact on his free agency, since the one-year offer will serve as a placeholder until he signs a multiyear contract with the Nets or another team. He reportedly turned down a four-year, $66MM extension offer from Phoenix last fall, so he’ll presumably be seeking a deal even more lucrative than that as a free agent.
Included as part of Brooklyn’s haul in February’s Kevin Durant blockbuster, Johnson has averaged a career-best 16.6 points per game since joining the Nets. He’s also contributing 4.8 RPG, 2.1 APG, and 1.4 SPG with a .468/.372/.851 shooting line in 30.8 minutes per night since the trade.
Johnson will be the last of 2023’s potential restricted free agents to meet the starter criteria, joining Williams, P.J. Washington, Tre Jones, Ayo Dosunmu, Kenyon Martin Jr. and Herbert Jones (Jones will have his team option picked up rather than reaching free agency, and Martin may be in that boat too). No other RFAs-to-be started 41 games or logged 2,000 minutes this season.
I hope the Nets keep him
Yes I believe Cam has found a home. With Bridges moving to the 2. And playing phenomenal there (star). Cam can settle in at the 3. Nets have a solid young team. And can really add to the 6th seed in the East. What I like about Cam. He plays both ways.