After trading for former Miami Heat forward Haywood Highsmith, the Brooklyn Nets have continued to supplement their franchise rebuild with solid, experienced players as their younger talent develops.
While the move should provide immediate help to a relatively young and inexperienced team, it also puts the Nets at the 21-man offseason limit as training camp approaches. It might seem like Highsmith was the final addition of the offseason to round out the roster, but one key piece from last year’s Nets team still remains unsigned.
Cam Thomas has spent the past two seasons establishing himself as an exciting young scorer, but the Nets have yet to meet the restricted free agent’s contract demands.
Last season, Thomas averaged a career-high 24 points, 3.8 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game while appearing in just 25 games due to a hamstring injury. The year before, he made a significant statistical leap by increasing his scoring average from 10.6 points in 2022-2023 to 22.5 points per game in 2024-2025.
It’s clear that Thomas is an impressive offensive talent, but the team’s decision to acquire Michael Porter Jr. and draft four guards in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft suggests they likely aren’t planning to rely on him heavily in the future.
Ahead of free agency, Brooklyn extended a one-year, $5.99 million qualifying offer to Thomas that officially made him a free agent. Besides that, Jake Fischer reported that the organization also offered him a two-year deal worth around $14.1 million per year with a team option on the second season around the value of the mid-level exception.
However, the team doesn’t appear to have made much progress in negotiations with Thomas, likely because his asking price is reportedly above $30 million.
At this point, both parties likely aren’t including each other in their long-term plans.
On top of that, having Thomas and Porter Jr. chuck up shots while the team’s young players develop doesn’t seem like a recipe for success. While the team isn’t expected to win now, they might as well give their younger players more high-pressure playmaking experience instead of handing it over to a player who probably won’t be here in a few years.
From Thomas’ perspective, if he is going to accept a “prove-it” short-term deal, it would probably be in his best interest for that one-year audition to be with a team that could potentially keep him in the future.
As the offseason continues to go by, it seems less and less likely that Thomas will be suiting up for Brooklyn next year.