Cameron Johnson is enjoying the best season of his six-year career, not only helping the Brooklyn Nets win games but also potentially increasing his trade value.
With rumors swirling around Johnson, his next chance to shine is Saturday night when the Nets host the Utah Jazz, the second-worst team in the Western Conference.
Johnson is averaging 19.2 points on 48.9 percent shooting from the field and 43.1 percent from 3-point range, all of which would be career highs. He has scored at least 20 points in five of his past six games, averaging 24.2 points per game on 49.4 percent shooting during that span, and is shooting 50.9 percent over his past 21 games.
Johnson scored 22 points in Brooklyn’s 130-101 home loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday, following Dennis Schroder’s trade to the Golden State Warriors for three second-round picks. He followed that up with 33 points in a 101-94 win over the Toronto Raptors on Thursday, where no teammate scored more than 12 points and the Nets shot 40.2 percent, their third-lowest mark of the season.
However, the Nets have lost six of their last eight games.
Utah currently has better lottery odds than the 11-16 Nets, as its 6-20 record is the third-worst in the NBA, behind the Washington Wizards and New Orleans Pelicans.
The Jazz are 6-14 since starting the season with six straight losses and are seeking consecutive wins for the first time since April 11-12 of last season.
After allowing 144 points in Monday’s 37-point loss to the Clippers in Los Angeles, Utah pulled off a 126-119 road win over the Detroit Pistons on Thursday, improving to 5-6 when allowing fewer than 120 points.
The win was closer than coach Will Hardy would have preferred, as the Jazz outscored Detroit 48-19 in the first quarter (after getting outscored 44-20 in the opening quarter Monday).
The game wound up being closer because the Jazz committed 24 of their 27 turnovers in the final three quarters, marking their 10th game with at least 20 giveaways. Utah’s win also featured Jordan Clarkson getting ejected for shoving Paul Reed in the third quarter.
Collin Sexton is coming off a season-high 30 points, ending a span of seven straight games where he was held under 20 points. The Jazz are also seeing improvement from second-year guard Keyonte George, who is averaging 18.1 points in his past seven games after scoring 28 in Detroit.
