Are the Nets playing the market or is the market playing them?
The Cam Thomas situation needs to be figured out. Even if it means the two sides go their separate ways.
There’s only so much we know that goes on behind closed doors. After all, these are negotiations and millions of dollars are on the line, more on the line for Thomas than there is for the Nets.
Here’s what we do know:
- Thomas is still a restricted free agent.
- Zach Lowe described Thomas is an “empty calories ball hog” and Cam responded with a “f-k you’.
- Keith Smith quoted a Nets coach as saying Thomas is “one of the best scoring guards in the league, and an underrated playmaker … We love Cam.”
- Jake Fischer reported the Nets offered Cam two years, around $14.1 million per year — the MLE — with a team option in the second year.
- Thomas deleted all of his photos/videos on Instagram. He also made a point of working out at the players’ union gym in Manhattan and not HSS in Brooklyn. He didn’t travel to Las Vegas.
Who’s to blame? Perhaps neither side.
The new CBA has decimated the 2021 draft class and whatever leverage they had — namely Thomas, Josh Giddey, Jonathan Kuminga, and Quentin Grimes. The Nets are truly the only team with legitimate cap space thus they’re competing against themselves in whatever they give Thomas, who missed a majority of his contract season with a hamstring injury and a total of 73 games over two years.
So, why should the Nets bid against themselves?
It’s what Sean Marks has preached since the day he arrived in Brooklyn — treating players the right way. Not to mention his emphasis on rebuilding through a homegrown product that Brooklyn can be proud of. Thomas, whether we like it or not, is Brooklyn’s best scorer and probably one of two total. He’s homegrown. Although he’s imperfect on defense and he’s a high-volume shooter, he’s 23 years old and there’s no way of emphasizing this any more than I have: the Nets drafted him. He SHOULD be part of their development. Marks and the Nets SHOULD want that.
At least that’s what should be the case if we’re basing it on what Marks preaches.
“I do think it’s important to have some guys under contract that you control of the contracts…you drafted them, you develop them and they got to their 2nd contract under your watch. Those days are probably gone of going and getting 2 or 3 max free agents,” he said in April.
We watch basketball and love the game for what happens on the court. The money isn’t mine nor is it you who’s reading this (unless you’re Joe Tsai!). Like it or not, Cam Thomas has been one of the few bright spots for Nets fans. It’s undeniable even if you aren’t his biggest fan: He thrills us.
Brooklyn will live on with or without him, they’ve flaunted a good coach, draft capital, financial flexibility, and most importantly the New York City market. But the game IS about stars and Thomas is the closest to one currently dressing in black-and-white.
Is Brooklyn playing the market or is the market playing them?
I remember writing an article for Boardroom after the franchise-tagged Saquon Barkley (essentially a team option after Year 1): “Are the Giants Playing the Market? Or is the Market Playing Them?” Barkley moved onto bigger and better things after the tag — he set NFL records and won a Super Bowl. Suffice to say his big season hushed the running back debate — even if it is lower paid than other celebrity positions. He earned himself a two-year, $41.2 million contract, the first RB to sign a $20 million deal (AAV).
In no shape, way, or form am I comparing Cam Thomas basketball player to Saquon Barkley football player. But their situations vis a vis their New York employers are similar.
The Giants had nothing to lose by giving him a fair offer. They weren’t very good and he was one of the few reasons fans tuned in and showed up. They didn’t do enough though.
Thomas, in his own respect, is in the same position with the Nets. He’s the most entertaining player on the team, especially taking into account how young and inexperienced the team is.
The Nets, like the Giants, face the conundrum of outsmarting themselves into a disaster. Especially if he goes and does well. It won’t feel good for anyone involved with the Brooklyn Nets.
Thomas is a baller and nobody denies that. He has eight 40-point games in his NBA career and he’s the youngest player in NBA history to record three consecutive 40-point games.
Is it a market problem or is it a philosophical problem?
If he isn’t back in Brooklyn then there’s plenty of reason to believe that he might not be a fit in Marks and/or Jordi Fernandez’s vision for the Nets. For better or worse.
“It’s 0.5-second basketball, you catch and make a decision. You don’t hold the ball. It’s also where the NBA is going: guys who can play multiple positions, guard multiple positions, and make it hard on the defense,” said Marks on Draft Night. It was a telling comment
The Nets drafted five players in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft, the most firsts ever taken by any team in the first round. All but one — Nolan Traore — are players 6’6” or taller and few adhere to a traditional position in the NBA.
Brooklyn wants a FIBA style of ball where it’s constantly swinging around the perimeter. Hence a big reason why four out of the five have passports issued by countries outside the U.S.
Ask J.J. Redick. He said in March: “With Jordi, I feel like I’m watching a FIBA team, you know? And that’s a real compliment.”
Here’s the thing: Thomas doesn’t fit that mold. He’s someone that’ll get you a bucket when you need it. He can put on a show in Brooklyn with the name proudly on his chest. Homegrown player. But his play is a contradiction to what they’re trying to build. It just is. Then again that coach quoted by Keith Smith seemed convinced there was a role for him.
“We love Cam. We think he’s one of the best scoring guards in the league, and an underrated playmaker. We’ll see what happens, but our feelings about Cam as a player and person have never wavered. We love him,”
We’re not in the business of outing other reporter’s sources, but that sounds like the head coach to us.
Before he finally went down after multiple hamstring issues, he ranked first in the NBA for points per possession on isolations (1.13) followed by:
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: 1.10
Jalen Brunson: 1.07
Kyrie Irving: 1.06
James Harden: 1.06
Luka Doncic: 1.06
Jayson Tatum: 1.01
It isn’t to say Fernandez doesn’t like Thomas, the evidence suggests the opposite. Jordi quite literally called his scoring a superpower.
But his philosophy — physicality on the defensive end plus constant ball movement on the offensive end — isn’t a mesh for a player like Thomas, who thrives in isolation and struggles defensively.
“Teams that that move the ball are more unpredictable, harder to guard, you can take better shots,” he said in September 2024. “How, again, can we develop this here with a younger group of guys? A lot of times you cannot control if the shot is going to go in, but what you can control is to teach what’s the right shot and what do we want.”
Brooklyn drafted four players who will ultimately compete with Thomas if he’s back. Egor Demin, Drake Powell, Nolan Traore, and Ben Saraf are all combo guards/playmakers. Thomas is 6’3” and he fits into the same category as the rest because he isn’t a pure point guard. Only Traore seems close to a traditional fit at point guard.
Do the Nets want to keep him? Giving him a qualifying offer is one piece of evidence and having the quote from the anonymous coach come out days after the Lowe tweets suggests they do indeed “love him.”
It’s also important to note that none of the many recent analyses of Thomas’ game — the most recent from Grant Afseth — quotes Nets sources. It’s been a “Western conference scout, an “Eastern Conference executive,” or “belief around the league.” And as noted up top, Thomas has not exercised his qualifying offer. The deadline for doing that is October 1.
Still…
In Conclusion…
Get it done or move on.
“It isn’t personal, it’s business” is an easy way to chalk up the situation, but it’s far more complex than that. The market is what it is and there’s no fighting that. However, the thing that’s supposed to make this Brooklyn Nets culture/identity so pure is its ability to do right by their own, including this fanbase.
And it’s hard to say they’ve done that until Thomas is back at HSS Center in Brooklyn. Happy. If he’s unhappy with his contract but remains in Brooklyn, he will be shown the door at one point or another… and it won’t be pretty. None if it ever is. If he’s truly a priority for the Nets, one would have to assume this wouldn’t be part of a discussion right now.
If it all lingers any longer, a separation is probably best for Thomas’ career and whatever prophecy the Nets have in store.