The Brooklyn Nets are a few weeks away from the regular season beginning on Oct. 22 with their season-opening road game at the Charlotte Hornets to start the campaign. Brooklyn has to figure out who will be starting at the point guard spot prior to the beginning of the season, but the shooting guard spot will be a position group to monitor as well.

Cam Thomas accepted his one-year, $6 million qualifying offer (QO) to come back to the team this season and given what he has done over the past two years, the former LSU Tiger is projected to be the starter at that spot. Thomas, 23, is coming off a 2024-25 season in which he averaged 24.0 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game while shooting 43.8% from the field and 34.9% from three-point land.

As it comes to the depth behind Thomas, it seems like the position will involve players like Dariq Whitehead and Terance Mann, with the possibility of someone like Kobe Bufkin factoring into that position as well. With that being said, here is the preview of Brooklyn’s shooting guard position ahead of the 2025-26 regular season tipping off in a few weeks from now:

Starter: Cam Thomas

Thomas is objectively the best player at the shooting guard spot as one of the better scorers in the NBA at this current point in time. Thomas not only will be asked to handle some of the scoring load for a Brooklyn team looking for anyone to contribute for a young team, but he could take more of the playmaking responsibilities as the rookies get up to speed.

One of the main storylines from this season will be how invested Thomas will be to help the younger players along the way while he tries to play the best he can prior to becoming a free-agent. Based off his comments at Media Day and during training camp, Thomas seems to be going through the preseason with a positive attitude while appearing to be ready to take the floor in any capacity.

Depth: Terance Mann, Dariq Whitehead, Kobe Bufkin

When it comes to the players behind Thomas, there are a number of ways that head coach Jordi Fernandez could go. If he is looking for more of a defensive backup, Fernandez could choose to go with Terance Mann, who has proven that he can contribute on the floor as a perimeter defender and as a wing who can stretch the floor for players like Thomas and Michael Porter Jr.

Nets Wire has already covered how Bufkin could fit into the rotation as a guy that the Nets are taking a chance on along with potentially filling both guard spots. If Bufkin is going to spend the majority of his time at the shooting guard spot, he will have to show some kind of growth in his long-range shooting so that he can fit on the floor along with the rookie that starts as the primary ball-handler.

For someone like Dariq Whitehead, it seems like this training camp and preseason could be important for him for multiple reasons. Whitehead is not only battling for playing time behind someone like Thomas, but he could very well by vying for a roster spot given that Brooklyn has to waive three players prior to the regular-season opener and Whitehead has dealt with a myriad of injuries in his two seasons in the league.