The NBA career of Cam Thomas may be over, and Michael Porter Jr. revealed a major reason why. Thomas was waived by both the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks this season after both teams gave up on him. Porter spent time playing with Thomas in the first half of the season for Brooklyn until the Nets finally cut bait. Thomas has scored 40+ points multiple times and looked like a great NBA scorer at a young age.
Porter revealed that off-court issues play a huge role in why Thomas fails to fit in with teams:
“There’s a lot more to sticking around in the NBA than just [scoring]. For Cam, I think it was a mixture of him being frustrated with a lot of things and also his personality. He doesn’t really socialize… He’ll say like two words all day, all practice. He doesn’t really talk to anybody.
I don’t think he does it in a way where he’s trying to be a bad teammate. I just think that’s him. I don’t know if he was willing to break out of his personality and be talkative and try to be a leader and bring guys together. I think that’s kind of what happened here in Brooklyn.”
Porter claims that Thomas barely talks to his teammates and makes it hard for him to develop chemistry with the rest of the locker room. Both stints with Brooklyn and Milwaukee showed similar examples of what Porter is talking about.
Why Brooklyn Nets Gave Up On Cam Thomas
Thomas felt he deserved a long-term contract extension last summer after averaging 20+ points in multiple seasons for Brooklyn as a young talent. However, the Nets didn’t want to lock up big money to Thomas due to his flaws at just about every area of the game but scoring.
Both parties entered the season with optimism, but it quickly turned into a toxic situation. Thomas was caught in viral moments of being the only member of the team not celebrating when a teammate did well or when the team won a close game late with rookies like Egor Demin or Nolan Traore closing over him.
Brooklyn ultimately waived Thomas at the trade deadline when it became apparent that they would not get any decent trade offers. Thomas made some critical comments about the Nets when he joined the Bucks.
Why Milwaukee Bucks Gave Up On Cam Thomas
A couple of strong early games for Thomas in Milwaukee made it look like he’d have a chance to find a new NBA home. However, the Bucks missing Giannis Antetokounmpo due to injury saw their season falling apart.
Doc Rivers started to slow down on Thomas’ minutes in favor of other young guards on the roster. Later comments from Rivers confirmed that a lack of being able to adjust in games and his personality off the court caused him to fall out of favor.
Milwaukee cut Thomas when they realized they wouldn’t be looking to sign him to a longer deal in the offseason. Thomas will likely get one more chance next season from a team desperately needing offense, but he must change his personality to find a good fit.
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