{"id":224271,"date":"2026-05-08T04:15:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T04:15:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/224271\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T04:15:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T04:15:10","slug":"michael-porter-jr-says-cam-thomas-personality-led-to-nets-downfall","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/224271\/","title":{"rendered":"Michael Porter Jr. says Cam Thomas’ ‘personality’ led to Nets downfall"},"content":{"rendered":"

After Cam Thomas got dumped by both Brooklyn and Milwaukee<\/a> this season, former teammate Michael Porter Jr. said it was more about attitude than ability.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot more to the NBA and sticking around than just [scoring],\u201d Porter said in a revelation that always seemed to escape Thomas. \u201cFor Cam, I think it was a mixture of he was frustrated with a lot of things, and also his personality \u2026 he doesn\u2019t really socialize. He\u2019ll come to the gym sometimes and he\u2019ll say like two words all day, all practice. He doesn\u2019t really talk to anybody.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think he does it in a way where he\u2019s trying to be a bad teammate; I just think that\u2019s him. But when it comes to a team being willing to pay you and come off that money and you\u2019re a No. 1 option, it comes with so much more. I don\u2019t know if he was willing to break out of his personality and be talkative and try to be a leader and bring guys together. I think that\u2019s kind of what happened here in Brooklyn.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Porter was speaking on the \u201cRoad Trippin\u2019 Show\u201d podcast<\/a> about a broad range of topics, including about him being a No. 1 option on a team.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"BrooklynMichael Porter Jr. is picture during the Nets\u2019 March 20 game. Jason Szenes for the NY Post<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a role that Thomas viewed himself capable of filling, and the young guard did average team-highs of 22.5 points and 24.0 points in the past two seasons for the Nets. But after rejecting multiple contracts from the Nets last summer \u2014 a two-year, $30 million deal with a team option, or a one-year, $9.5 million pact \u2014 he ultimately settled for the $5.98 million qualifying offer<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In the end, Thomas managed just 15.6 points in an injury-marred campaign and got waived by Brooklyn. He got picked up by Milwaukee, but cut loose there as well. While he flashed the ability to get buckets, his shortcomings in terms of defense, playmaking, and \u2014 ultimately \u2014 self-awareness see him now unemployed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI know he was frustrated about the contract the year before, and the fact that Brooklyn didn\u2019t really pay him how he wanted,\u201d Porter said. \u201cHe\u2019s thinking talent-wise, he\u2019s thinking as good as Austin Reaves, he\u2019s as good as Jalen Green, he\u2019s as good as this guy or that guy, and they\u2019re getting paid $100 million contracts. So I understand that part. But I knew when he left Brooklyn, I\u2019m like, man, over there in Milwaukee he better change a couple of these things or else it\u2019s going to be tough for him.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd when he first got there, they were raving about him because he had a few good games. Doc Rivers was complimenting him and everything. And then I\u2019m sure he had a bad game and kind of went back into his shell a little bit. It can come off like he has an attitude, but really that\u2019s just him. And then I think from there it was downhill. But when it comes to being a basketball player and a talent, he\u2019s up there with the best of them.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"CamCam Thomas drives to the basket during the Nets\u2019 Feb. 3 game against the Lakers. Corey Sipkin for the NY Post<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFollow all the basketball buzz in Brooklyn\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Nets by Brian Lewis, exclusively on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Porter added he may take as many shots as Thomas, \u201cbut the time the ball was in my hands was a fraction.\u201d He expressed confidence he can be a top scorer on a contender, but says the Nets adding a backcourt playmaker \u2014 via the lottery, trade or signing \u2014 will let them take a step forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cA No. 1 option on a championship-caliber team? I\u2019m not about to sit here and say that I don\u2019t think I can take on a big responsibility on a championship team, because I do, but I definitely would need some help with me,\u201d Porter said. \u201cIf I got another guy over here who really is able to create and draw some attention, and now I\u2019m getting two or three wide-open 3s a game, I think it would really help us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After Cam Thomas got dumped by both Brooklyn and Milwaukee this season, former teammate Michael Porter Jr. said…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224272,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,355,99,11480,4600,21,9,24,63,319],"class_list":["post-224271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-nets","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-cameron-thomas","tag-michael-porter-jr","tag-nba","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/224272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}