Mikal Bridges to Cam Johnson: ‘You can’t leave your Twin!’

In an interview with Brian Lewis, Mikal Bridges talked about how much he wants Cam Johnson to return to Brooklyn and continue their basketball careers together in Brooklyn. They are after all “twins,” best friends.

“Oh, yeah, for sure,” Bridges told The Post. “I mean, I just know a lot of people probably want him on different teams. I just tell him, I’ll just be like ‘I know money and this and that, but just know where I want you. And you can’t leave your Twin!’

“But he knows. He knows that I never want him to go. And I hope that he stays and they offer him a really good deal. Get my boy paid and go from there.”

At this point, a week away from free agency, Johnson is restricted, meaning that even if another team gives him an offer at a higher pay grade than what the Nets think he’s worth, Brooklyn can match.

In fact, it may not come to that. Johnson wants back in Brooklyn and Brooklyn wants him back. Two days ago, CJ told an Australian podcast that he intends to do some serious house-hunting in Brooklyn “At the conclusion of free agency, I’ll reevaluate, explore neighborhoods figure out which area of Brooklyn I’d like to live in because there are a lot of cool neighborhoods.”

Still, other teams, most prominently the Rockets and Pistons, are expected to bid for his services with the contract likely to extend four years and be worth between $90 and $100 million.

“I don’t have a crystal ball. I don’t know,” Sean Marks said Thursday at the NBA draft talking about Johnson’s free agency. “I think it’s one of those things that maybe … we should expect the unexpected. Things happen all the time in this. We’ll be prepared for that.

“Cam knows how we feel about him. We hope he’s a Net and so we’ll just have to sort of play it all out. … I think we’ve got a nice young group and he can see how this group has a chance to do something special here and do something special in Brooklyn.”

Johnson has said all the right things as well, particularly about his relationship with Bridges.

“Yeah I’d say so. That’s my twin. I haven’t played an NBA game without him, literally, the guy I came into the league alongside of and somebody I’ve grown close to. I value those people in my life and he’s a good teammate,” Johnson said. “So the continued opportunity to play with him is going to be very important.”

Johnson averaged 16.6 points, 4.8 boards, 2.1 assists and 1.4 steals in 25 regular-season games after being traded with Bridges to Brooklyn. He was even better in the first round loss to the 76ers, averaging 18.5 points and 5.8 boards on 42.9% shooting from deep.

• Mikal Bridges wants Nets to keep Cam Johnson in Brooklyn: ‘You can’t leave your twin’ - Brian Lewis - New York Post