Contrary to recency bias, there were good times between Cam Thomas and the Brooklyn Nets \u2014 a lot of them.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey loved me and I loved their vibe. I felt like everything was in place\u2026 I just felt like it was just a match made in heaven. All our personalities connected,\u201d said a smiling 19-year-old Cam Thomas on Draft night.<\/p>\n
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\u201cHe has an elite skill. You watch him play. You watch him find his shot, hit his shot \u2014 that\u2019s a very, very high level,\u201d Sean Marks said of Thomas in response.<\/p>\n
In case you\u2019ve forgotten, Sean Marks traded Landry Shamet to get a second late first-rounder so he could have two late picks, one for Day\u2019Ron Sharpe of North Carolina, who he loved, and one for Cam Thomas, whom they were willing to take a chance on.<\/p>\n
Five years later, separation was inevitable, driven by what you might call \u201cirreconcilable differences\u201d in style and on another, by the new CBA, which stripped teams of flexibility and offered harsher tax penalties. Those changes made it risky for Brooklyn to lock Thomas into a big long-term deal, so after four years, he took the qualifying offer, a rare for restricted free agents.<\/p>\n
According to reliable sources, he turned down two offers: one for two years and $30 million, and another \u2014 a one-year, $9.5 million team option. He didn\u2019t make a counter offer. Cam Thomas believed in himself and his ability to overcome hamstring issues that had kept him off in street clothes for 53 games last season. He switched agents twice in two years.<\/p>\n
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It was all a big gamble but it gave him control of his destiny in 2027.<\/p>\n
Nets fans were split, often virulently, on Thomas. A hefty long-term deal made little sense when Brooklyn was the only team with real cap space. The simplest: why bid against yourself? Cam was saying the same thing to himself the whole time too.<\/p>\n
This isn\u2019t about who\u2019s right or wrong. It won\u2019t look good if he goes somewhere and contributes to winning basketball (which was the Nets overriding concern with him.) It\u2019s often forgotten that Thomas entered the NBA when the Nets were championship contenders. But ultimately it\u2019s a sad tale, no matter how it shakes out for the Nets or Cam Thomas.<\/p>\n
They had the most skilled team in the NBA when Thomas was drafted. He was influenced by multiple future Hall-of-Famers, coached by one already in Springfield. He didn\u2019t need to be anything other than the spark behind those guys.<\/p>\n
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This isn\u2019t about reliving the past,\u00a0 it\u2019s about understanding how a young player became a product of his environment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was pretty steady because I felt like the team I was going to is a championship-level team.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re going to be winning games. We\u2019re going to be playing for something,\u201d Thomas continued.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor him to continue to learn under three of the greatest scorers the league has right now will be great for him. The other part of it is that he is fearless. He\u2019s not afraid. I think that\u2019s what we\u2019re looking for. Guys with that competitive edge to them and a chip on their shoulder,\u201d Marks added in 2021.<\/p>\n
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He came into the league with riches. Kevin Durant was basically his mentor during those days and it was easy to understand why. Thomas was quiet, similar to KD, maybe a little awkward too, but his mantra was also similar to the now Houston Rocket: \u201cHoopers Hoop.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n