NEW YORK — Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas heads into his fifth season in the league with a new deal and some positivity ahead of the 2025-26 campaign. Brooklyn did not come to terms on a long-term deal with Thomas, leading to him accepting his $6 million qualifying offer (QO), but he is focused on being the veteran for the younger players in training camp.

“It’s been good. It’s obviously the rookies so it’s definitely some growing pains, but at the end of the day, that’s on me as one of the main scorers to pull them to the side,” Thomas said following Monday’s practice. Thomas will most likely slot in as the starting shooting guard as he has been for the past two seasons, but which rookie will be the starting point guard will be the question that has to be answered in this camp.

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“Tell them what I see and how I want the ball, whatever, or just give them advice, or whatever is happening in the game,” Thomas continued. “It’s good playing with some young point guards. They’re fast, get up and down, excellent passers. We should definitely be good? I’ve definitely been having a blast playing with them out here in training camp.”

Thomas, 23, is coming off a 2024-25 season in which he had arguably the best season of his career to date after averaging 24.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game while shooting 43.8% from the floor and 34.9% from deep. Brooklyn overhauled their point guard position this summer after adding Egor Demin (eighth overall pick), Nolan Traore (19th), and Ben Saraf (26th) in the 2025 NBA Draft.

Regardless of who will be the starting point guard when the Nets begin the regular season on Oct. 22 with a road game at the Charlotte Hornets, Thomas has made it clear that he’s still focused on getting better. Thomas showed significant growth over the course of last season in terms of his playmaking, but he’s also trying to become the complete package by tightening things up on the defensive end of the floor.

“Just being in the right spot. That’s all defense is, just being in the right spot. The defense is a system, really. Everybody gotta be on one accord, everybody gotta help each other out,” Thomas explained. “If I get beat, somebody gotta help me, and if somebody gets beat, I gotta help them. It was all on one accord. It’s not like my first few years here where it was just one-on-one defense and switching everything. This is more of a team defense, in a way.”

This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets’ Cam Thomas discusses rookie point guards; defensive improvement