As of this writing, 10:10 PM EST on Saturday night, budding Phoenix Suns star forward Cam Johnson may miss a significant amount of time with what the Suns organization feels could be a torn meniscus.
Photo by Kate Frese/NBAE via Getty Images
Johnson has begun his age-26 campaign red hot, making the most of his first season as a starter after being a more than qualified bench piece for his first three seasons in the league. The 6′ 8 sharpshooters has always excelled from behind the line, but he has also built a reputation for being a fierce defenseman; this “3 & D” role has brought out the best in Johnson and has been critical to the Suns’ success over the past few seasons. Johnson has begun this season averaging a solid 13 points per game, shooting an impressive 43.1% from the three-point line.
Statistically speaking, Johnson has begun the year with a “player efficiency rating” (PER) of 17.2, good for 72nd in the association, .3 defensive win shares (61st in the NBA), and .4 offensive win shares (64th in the NBA), 59.2 actual shooting percentage (76th in the league), and 37th in win shares per 48 minutes suitable for 37th in the league. Some of these advanced stats are not always an excellent barometer for how good or bad a player is; however, when the Sun’s entire starting lineup (Chris Paul, Devin Booker, Mikal Bridges, and Deandre Ayton) are ahead of him on many of these rankings, it is clear that he has an impact. Most people would love to hear their entire starting lineup are in the top 100 players in the league.
Johnson is valuable to the Suns organization and this core. This brings me to the bad news; Cam may miss significant time with what, at the very worst, could be a torn meniscus; this was after suffering a seemingly non-contact knee injury during Friday night’s duel against The Portland Trail Blazers, a fight Phoenix lost 108-106 after a controversial buzzer-beater by Portland forward Jerami Grant (a shot the NBA has called illegitimate in the usual 2-minute report citing an acknowledged traveling violation).
Portland is the only team to beat the Suns this year, so the game was hardly meaningless and what became apparent was that the Suns may not be adequately equipped to hold on to a top 2 standing in the Western Conference if Cam goes down. Torrey Craig played poorly after coming in to try and weather the storm on the offensive end but played well off the bench for Johnson on the defensive end (specifically with rebounds).
At age 32, Craig may not be as effective playing ten more minutes per game if they were to be the primary replacement for Johnson moving forward.
Craig is a better rebounder than Johnson but worse in every other category. This also brings up the problem of, now who steps in to supplement Craig’s role off the bench. Ish Wainwright is still out (for personal leave), and Jae Crowder still is not playing because he wants to be traded. So the answer is they do not have anyone. Josh Okogie isn’t as big and switchable as Craig, and Bismack Biyombo is being used as an undersized center for small ball lineups, playing behind Deandre Ayton and Landale. When he plays, he has struggled mightily with the bench unit, only succeeding when Chris Paul is on the court.
This injury is undoubtedly nerve-wracking for Phoenix’s championship hopes; the most realistic outcome would be Phoenix trading the ticked-off veteran forward Jae Crowder for forward depth off the bench. In a previous article, I proposed a trade that would send the Knicks’ forward Obi Toppin to the Suns for Crowder, and quite frankly, that trade looks much better now than it did two weeks ago.
Trying to find Craig’s temporary replacement sent me back to the trade machine to make something happen. Initially, Crowder to Cleveland for Cedi Osman would make sense, as he could theoretically start sending Levert to the bench to be the 6th man for the Cavs, which is where Levert has flourished in years passed. The issue is The Cavs would be over the luxury tax, which they may not want to break, and they would likely have to throw in another minor piece or pick just for the players’ pedigrees to add up. I like Osman for Phoenix, so I looked into it differently. Maybe the Cavs would take Osman for Crowder straight up, but if not, maybe Osman and Dylan Windler would work.
Windler is not very good for current NBA standards, he’s a garbage-time player that shoots 32% from three, but he makes the math work, and who knows, perhaps he gets moved in the future.
I revisited the Royce O’Neale Jae Crowder trade I thought up in that article. Royce has been struggling early; perhaps that would bring his value down, and not only that, but he could start over Craig while Johnson is out. Also, from the Nets, swingman Yuta Watanabe and a draft pick or minor piece may work. Yuta is a low-ego career role player that has often fought for minutes throughout his career but has repeatedly made the most of it when given opportunities. What would be perfect would be if the Suns got both for Crowder (wishful thinking, I know).
However, as I pondered this trade idea, I thought of something. Brooklyn has no first-round draft picks in 2024, 2025, or 2026 and the way things are going in Brooklyn may be precious. Draft picks are like art; they’re worth as much as someone is willing to pay. The Nets Irving/Durant experiment has been an epic failure thus far (to put it lightly), and they may get a little anxious to make a move now to set up their future. Crowder and 2024 first for two years of Royce O’Neale and a year of Yuta Watanabe may be better than one may anticipate.
I’m still determining what the Suns can do to supplement Cam Johnson’s impact while he misses time, but what I do know is that they should act sooner rather than later, and whatever the solution, Jae Crowder will more than likely be involved.
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