Cameron Thomas is fresh off a terrific freshman year starring for the LSU Tigers. Their March Madness hopes came to an end versus Michigan, but Thomas showed up like he did all season. His scoring prowess will draw attention from plenty of teams during the 2021 NBA Draft.
Cameron Thomas 2021 NBA Draft Profile
College Career
Thomas has only played one year in college but made the most of it. He finished the season averaging 23 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.4 assists per game. In the Tigers’ first March Madness game, versus St. Bonaventure, Thomas poured in 27 points. In the second round, in an unfortunate loss to the Wolverines, Thomas wowed by scoring 30.
He was above and beyond the best player on LSU’s team. Thomas even went on a 10 game stretch, from January 26th to March 6th, where he scored 21 or more in every single game. He was clearly the driving force to LSU’s March Madness bid. In that run, his highest scoring output was 29 in a win versus Missouri.
Strengths
All the previous statistics show that Thomas is a certified bucket. That’s exactly what he’ll be in the league as well.
What makes Thomas special is the fact that he’s a three-level scorer. Driving to the rim, hitting the midrange, and shooting from three are all weapons in his arsenal. He does shoot at a high volume and can be streaky in a sense of scoring in bunches, but what matters is that he’ll always hit double-digit points.
He’s a strong athlete with decent rebounding potential for his size as well.
Weaknesses
Thomas needs to improve his scoring efficiency. Shooting 40 percent from the field and 32 percent from deep isn’t going to cut it long-term. He’s a better shooter than that, though, he just had a very high usage rate while at LSU. Thomas will surely be more efficient on a more balanced team.
Playmaking is a weakness as well. Thomas is more of a shooting guard than a floor general, but he does have to improve in looking for his teammates. Averaging more turnovers than assists, as he did at LSU, is not ideal.
Lastly, Thomas is a solid defender but nothing stands out just yet. Experience and work with NBA trainers will only make this better.
NBA Comparison
Thomas is a well-sized guard whose job is to score. In this sense, he’s similar to Eric Gordon. Any team will gladly take this type of player as one of the first men off the bench.
2021 NBA Draft Projection
Thomas projects as a late first-round pick. There is some potential for the middle of the first round, but he’ll most likely go past the 20th pick.
Main Image: Embed from Getty Images
