After months of speculation, Cam Thomas and the Brooklyn Nets failed to reach an agreement on a new contract so the 23-year-old on Thursday exercised his qualifying offer of $6.0 million making him an unrestricted free agent next summer.
Shams Charania was first with the news…
The Nets were unable to reach a long-term deal with Thomas, so the 23-year-old high-scoring guard opted for the qualifying offer that gives him a full no-trade clause and sets him for unrestricted free agency next summer with at least 10 teams set to have cap space…
Thomas’ representatives, Ron Shade and Alex Saratsis of Octagon, discussed several frameworks of deals with the Nets but ultimately declined Brooklyn’s offers of two years and $30 million with a team option for the second season or one year and $9.5 million with incentives up to $11 million while waiving the no-trade clause, sources said.
Bobby Marks laid out the details of Thomas situation— and the Nets salary cap — following the news…
Thomas, drafted by the Nets with the 27th pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, became a fan favorite with his scoring prowess, famously scoring better than 40 points in three straight games in February 2023 becoming at 21 the youngest player to ever accomplish the feat. However, he also had his detractors both in the fanbase and across the league with many seeing him as nothing more than a shooter.
The move calls into question Thomas’ future with the Nets. He can be traded but he would have to approve the deal. Thomas’ market remains uncertain. According to various reports, no NBA club made him an offer during free agency and no team other than Brooklyn has cap space to meet his considerable salary demands. Moreover, teams may be reluctant to sign him and jeopardize their own salary cap situation.
Thomas’ position with the Nets was hurt by two issues: 1) he had missed 73 games the past two seasons to hamstring issues and 2) the team repeatedly noted that they’re moving to a more “quick decision” mode with less isolation … which of course has been Thomas’ forte. Last season, playing 25 games, he averaged 24.0 points on shooting splits of 44/34/88, along with 3.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists. Both his defense and playmaking were seen as weak.
The decision follows an up-and-down summer. First, Thomas blasted Zach Lowe in mid-July after The Ringer reporter spoke this way of Thomas on his The Dunker Spot podcast: “The consensus on Cam Thomas — if there is one, and he’s got some fans, and he’s got some mega-detractors — but the consensus is kind of like Empty Calories Ball Hog.”
Thomas responded with a series of tweets.
Days later, an anonymous Nets coach later told Keith Smith of Spotrac “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,” Smith quoted the Nets coach, not further identified.
But at the same time, Fischer of The Steinline offered increasingly pessimistic analysis of negotiations between the two sides, first saying that the Nets had not “seriously engaged” with Thomas’s representatives, then noting the huge gulf between Sean Marks & co. and Thomas’s representatives, reporting accurately as it turned out the the Nets didn’t want to give Thomas more than a two-year, MLE-like package while Thomas was looking for more than double and perhaps even triple that. As one league source told ND two weeks ago, the sides were “far apart.”
How Thomas will now fit in the Nets future remains uncertain at best. As noted, the two sides can try to arrange a trade or they can revisit his free agency a year from now. But with Thomas future so uncertain, the Nets are unlikely to feature him as much as if they had signed him to a long-term contract and of course the Nets are once again in tank mode as they try to secure one of the top picks in the 2026 Draft.
Said one league source not associated with the Nets: “Cam Thomas get the QO to no surprise. Can’t imagine how many shots he’s going to take this year.” The source described the ultimate outcome as “another failure in asset management” by the Nets.
Meanwhile, the decision will add to the Nets salary cap, giving the team as much as $20 million to play with now, or at the trade deadline in February.
This story will be updated.