The Cam Thomas era is over in Brooklyn.
The Nets waived Thomas after Thursday’s NBA trade deadline passed, letting the 24-year-old enter free agency.
Cam Thomas #24 of the Brooklyn Nets looks for the open man as Ayo Dosunmu #11 of the Chicago Bulls defends. Charles Wenzelberg/New York Post
After the Post had reported on Jan. 19 that Brooklyn and Thomas were headed for a divorce, ESPN was the first to report that the team had made it official.
Thomas was averaging 15.6 points.
After Brooklyn had offered Thomas multiple deals this summer — a two-year, $30 million contract with a team option, or a one-year, $9.5 million pact with incentives up to $11 million — he rejected both. Thomas inked the $5.99 million qualifying offer, and that was the beginning of the end in Brooklyn.
Thomas suffered four left hamstring injuries since the start of last season, the latest on Nov. 5. Since his Dec. 27 return to the court, he’d lost his starting job.
There had been no interest in Thomas at last year’s trade deadline or over the summer, due to his poor defense and lack of playmaking.
Clearly there was little market for him as of Thursday — or the Nets couldn’t find an acceptable move, considering the Qualifying Offer gave him a no-trade clause.
At this point, Thomas is free to try to find a new home.
“I feel like Cam has a bright future. It just takes somebody to believe in his talent and his skill,” said Kevin Durant, who was Thomas’ Nets mentor from 2021-23.
“Scorers and guys that score the basketball at a high rate, they get taken for granted in this league a bit. We’re so used to loving defenders and playmakers and guys that can be connectors, sometimes scorers get taken for granted.”
