The Nuggets make moves, but it’s stoking the flames of another feud on the media side. Kind of. ICYMI, the Denver Nuggets are doing their best to take the pressure off their superstar. Nikola Jokic is finally getting some much-needed backup firepower going into the 2025-26 season, and the analysts, as well as the fans, are loving it. But not everyone is happy, as a former NBA player is calling out the double standards when it comes to star players.

Despite not having much to do with the 2025 NBA draft, the Nuggets utilized the free agency market smartly. They started by sending Michael Porter Jr. and a 2032 first-round pick to the Nets in exchange for Cameron Johnson. They followed it up the next day by trading Dario Saric to the Kings for Jonas Valanciunas, thus adding a veteran backup center to their roster for the times Jokic is not on the floor.

And Eddie A. Johnson (no known familial relation to Cam Johnson there) questioned the praise the Nuggets are receiving for their trade dealings so far.  When Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix said, “This is exactly what you do when you have a generational talent like Jokic. OKC will (justifiably) start the season as frontrunners, but Denver is going to be a problem,” Johnson quoted him in a very telling statement. “No excuses. Hold him to it, unlike some others in the media when it comes to Jokic compared to expectations for other greats.”

This doesn’t look like shade to Mannix. The ‘some others in the media’ might be some very specific people. A little scroll down Johnson’s X page gave answers. It showed when his colleague, Bill Simmons, posted, “The Nuggets just got Cam Johnson and Bruce Brow, and ESPN’s TV producers are like, ‘Yo, can you guys do a second Lakers segment?'”  The former Phoenix Suns star reinforced it by responding, “Well, I guess we can stop saying Jokic has no help now, especially based on mood that it wasn’t covered.” 

It’s hard to gauge accurately how much airtime ESPN allots to non-Lakers coverage. However, most viewers would testify that smaller markets like Denver don’t get their due regard on prominent networks. That became increasingly evident in these NBA finals with two smaller market teams and the lackluster coverage that translated to the lowest NBA Finals ratings in decades (8.84 million average viewership in the series opener).

It’s also not new for Johnson to call out the media for the uneven coverage. But his ‘friend’ is catching some strays, too.

Eddie A. Johnson wants Jokic on the same plane as LeBron

The Nuggets had a glaring problem this past season. When Nikola Jokic was not on the floor, there was a clear difference in the numbers. Their net rating goes from -4.5 without him to 5.3 with him (as per the 2024-25 figures). They clearly need a big man when The Joker needs his rest.

After firing a coach and GM, the Nuggets made some front office moves, but they needed to do more to help Jokic. So they cut their losses short with Michael Porter Jr.’s injuries to get Cam Johnson. The Brooklyn import is underrated as a defender and is a huge advantage on the perimeter. With Jonas Valanciunas, they now have a center as well.

Bill Simmons, though, was asking for more reinforcement for Jokic. Looking at that, Johnson said, “You begging. U never asked that hard for Lebron.” For the unaware, Simmons has been advocating for LeBron James to leave the Lakers for a while now. Most recently, he campaigned for a King and Cavaliers reunion.

To be clear, Johnson and Simmons have no tension between them. They’re colleagues who can call each other out publicly without hard feelings. But Johnson is one of those NBA veterans who slams disproportionate scrutiny on stars like LeBron James and Nikola Jokic. In this case, he saw that the Joker was not put under the superstar microscope and pointed it out.

His blunt posts on X.com highlight that the “no help” excuse doesn’t apply to Jokic anymore. The Nuggets are no longer the financially strapped team they were last season. They have finally gotten ‘help’ for their star and expectations to live up to. Do you think Eddie Johnson has a point?