Nets’ Cam Johnson misses another game due to sprained right ankle

LOS ANGELES — The last time Cam Johnson had a sprained right ankle, he missed five games and the Nets lost every single one.

After making his return in Tuesday’s slump-busting win in Portland, Johnson was sidelined for Wednesday night’s 126-67 blowout loss to the Clippers … with a sprained right ankle.

Brooklyn can only hope this isn’t as severe and more an abundance of caution, because the past couple of weeks have underscored Johnson’s value— both by what he provides with his presence and what the Nets lack in his absence.

Cam Johnson, who did not play because of a sprained right ankle, stands for the national anthem during the Nets’ 126-67 blowout loss to the Clippers on Jan. 15, 2025. Getty Images

“C.J. draws a lot of attention for us offensively,” Noah Clowney said. “He’s a hell of a scorer. And him drawing attention helps all the other guys get easy shots.”

That was underscored Tuesday when Johnson made his return to the court with a team-high 24 points on 10-for-18 shooting, leading the struggling Nets to a rout of the Trail Blazers.

His return was short-lived, back on the sideline. But it’s unclear if there was a recurrence or if the Nets simply held him out because it was the tail end of a back-to-back.

The Nets are fairly conservative with their performance team, and it’s easy to see why they could be cautious to a fault with Johnson.

The forward is averaging 19.6 points on stellar 49.6/42.8/89.7 shooting splits, approaching the 50/40/90 benchmark accomplished by just nine players in NBA history.

Johnson is also by far their most valuable trade asset as well.

The Post has consistently reported that — despite Dennis Schroder and Dorian Finney-Smith having been very much on the trade block — Brooklyn is going to hold out for the highest price for Johnson, the equivalent of two first-round picks. Now NBA insider Jake Fischer’s recent report reiterates that is still the case.

It’s worth noting that, as The Stein Line reported, Johnson’s trade number isn’t just his $22.5 million salary, but teams would also have to account for the wing’s $27 million “apron salary” that would hit the books of any apron team due to the unlikely bonuses baked into his four-year, $94 million deal.

It would make moving him more complicated than would appear at first blush.

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Nic Claxton was questionable but played against the Clippers after missing Tuesday’s win with right hamstring tightness.

He scored two points and was 1-for-7 from the field.

Ben Simmons sat out, still not cleared to play both nights of back-to-backs.

Cam Thomas, Bojan Bogdanovic, Maxwell Lewis, Trendon Watford and DeAnthony Melton were also out, and D’Angelo Russell did not play. … P.J. Tucker was out as the Clippers look to trade him.

Ziaire Williams’ offense was coming around, before Wednesday’s four-point dud.

He had 13 points on 3-for-4 from deep with seven boards against Portland to finish plus-6 in 28 minutes.

He had scored double-digit points in a career-high six straight games, averaging 13.7 points and 5.7 rebounds on 42.9 percent shooting from behind the arc.