As the Denver Nuggets fall deeper into the luxury tax, the Miami Heat could make a money-saving lifeline offer to help lessen their burden while, interestingly enough, solving one problem of their own.
As echoed by ESPN Radio host Evan Cohen, there may be a path where the Heat offer Nikola Jovic as part of a trade package in exchange for Cameron Johnson. It's a move that would help introduce new tax savings for Denver while bringing in an elite 3-point shooter to Miami.
Why would the Nuggets agree to such an offer, especially when Jovic's trade value may be at an all-time low? That's a great question. However, if the Nuggets are indeed interested in lowering their tax number, that'd at least open the door to curiosity. Add in the fact that Jovic always seems to look good while playing next to Nikola Jokic and Team Serbia, perhaps they'd be a little more open to such a risk (with the benefit of saving some cash).
Could there be a trade with MIA & DEN where MIA sends Nikola Jovic + Myron Gardner to DEN for Cam Johnson? Jokic gets countrymate Jovic, they can waive (non guaranteed) Gardner and save about $6M towards apron. Miami uses rest of MLE towards Cam. May be $100k off on my math. https://t.co/8uxKFlOVwk
— Evan Cohen (@EvCoRadio) July 27, 2026
Assuming the math maths, this is an intriguing possibility. I'm not sure how willing the Nuggets would be to trade Johnson, but if they're still looking to shake up their roster to a certain extent, this may be something they consider.
Cameron Johnson could make sense as a shooting specialist in Miami
Of course, this would require quite the endorsement from Jokic before it would even become a mere possibility. But for the sake of this argument, let's just say that it existed and that the Nuggets were willing to go down this money-saving path.
How much sense would this type of a deal make for the Heat? In short, a ton.
And it could work even better in the Heat's favor as they continue to wait on an option that may or may not ever come to fruition with Klay Thompson.
It's been widely reported over the last few days that Thompson has emerged as the Heat's "top target" now that LeBron James has signed in Philadelphia. Of course, the only problem with that is that Thompson isn't a free agent and the Dallas Mavericks are looking to trade him, not buy him out.
And this is where there's a real wrench in all this. Because, at least up to now, the Heat haven't shown any interest in making another trade for a role player.
Would the Heat be willing to make another trade?
If the Heat aren't willing to trade for Thompson, does that mean they wouldn't be interested in trading for Johnson? Could be. Especially considering that Thompson's contract is actually cheaper, despite both being expirings.
That's where this idea could all fall apart. Not only would the Heat be giving up more depth with another trade, which they probably can't afford to lose at this point, but they'd also be committing more guaranteed money to a specialty player.
I can't imagine the Heat would have a problem with doing so for another star-level player, but committing more money to a 3-point shooting specialist could be a difficult ask.
In theory, though, if the Heat weren't concerned about that, this is an interesting idea that could make it across the Heat's desk. They'd need the Nuggets to play ball, but there is a way in which these two teams could help each other to solve big problems that they're currently facing.
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