{"id":100873,"date":"2024-10-13T14:59:17","date_gmt":"2024-10-13T18:59:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=100873"},"modified":"2024-10-13T15:21:07","modified_gmt":"2024-10-13T19:21:07","slug":"will-nets-secure-cam-thomas-extension-before-october-21st-deadline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/13\/will-nets-secure-cam-thomas-extension-before-october-21st-deadline\/","title":{"rendered":"Will Nets Secure Cam Thomas Extension Before October 21?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">NBA Opening Night is set to begin on Thursday, October 22<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">nd<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, with the New York Knicks facing the Boston Celtics, and the Minnesota Timberwolves taking on the Los Angeles Lakers. As for the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/11\/an-improbable-playmaking-duo-for-the-brooklyn-nets\/\" target=\"_self\">Brooklyn Nets<\/a>, their first game of the season will be against the Atlanta Hawks on October 23<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">rd<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. That is two days after the deadline to extend one of their key players.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Will Nets Secure Cam Thomas Extension Before October 21<\/strong><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>?\u00a0<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The deadline to extend player contracts is on October 21<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">st<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">. Nets\u2019 guard <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thomaca02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cam Thomas<\/a> is entering the fourth and final year of his rookie contract. He is currently looking for an extension from the Nets. Following the Nets\u2019 preseason game against the Clippers, head coach Jordi Fernandez gave Thomas high praise. Thomas finished with 12 points, two rebounds, and one assist. <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/nba\/nets\/news\/brooklyn-nets-hc-jordi-fernandez-praises-cam-thomas-preseason-opener\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Fernandez said<\/a>, <\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cObviously, we have to give him the ball and he has to score for us, but it was a very good first game, being very efficient with the shots he had.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3><strong>Cam Thomas A Rising Star As The Nets Rebuild<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Thomas\u2019 time with the Brooklyn Nets has been as unpredictable as any NBA player\u2019s career. In his rookie season, he averaged 8.5 points. Thomas upped that to 10.6 points in his second season, and then more than doubled that at 22.5 in his third year. Last season, Thomas, along with former Net <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bridgmi01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Mikal Bridges<\/a> were the top two scorers on the team. In his first two NBA seasons, Thomas was a backup guard for <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/i\/irvinky01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kyrie Irving<\/a>, whom he considers a mentor. During his rookie season (2021-22), Thomas received significant minutes due to Irving being unable to play in home and away games because of the NBA\u2019s COVID-19 policy at the time.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After the blockbuster trades that sent Irving and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/d\/duranke01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Kevin Durant<\/a> to teams in the Western Conference, Thomas began starting games for the Nets. His improvements have been recognized across the league, but most importantly by the Nets organization.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><strong>Speculation and Rumors Around the 2025 Draft<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Recently, there has been some speculation that the franchise might not aggressively compete this season. They are projected to land a high draft pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. The Nets are expected to be major sellers at the trade deadline, potentially offloading large contracts such as those of <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/simmobe01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Ben Simmons<\/a>,<a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/schrode01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Dennis Schroder<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/j\/johnsca02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cameron Johnson<\/a>, <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/b\/bogdabo02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Bojan Bogdanovic<\/a>, and <a  href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/f\/finnedo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Dorian Finney-Smith<\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>As Brooklyn Rebuilds, Will Thomas Be Included In Their Future?<\/strong>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you look at all 30 teams in the NBA, the majority of them have a star player as the face of their franchise. The teams that seem to be without one are the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/10\/11\/former-washington-wizards-first-round-pick-troy-brown-jr-joins-overseas-team\/\" target=\"_self\">Washington Wizards<\/a>, Portland Trail Blazers, and the Brooklyn Nets. Just five years ago, these teams had their franchise player and roster depth. Even the underperforming teams in the NBA often have a face of their franchise while going through a rebuild process.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Four seasons ago, the Nets\u2019 roster was considered one of the best in the NBA. Unfortunately, at this time, the Nets may not have the depth to compete in the Eastern Conference. Many expect them to fall short of even the Play-In Tournament. <\/span>Thomas has proven to be an important piece needed in the Nets\u2019 rebuilding. As the October 21st deadline approaches, it will be interesting to see if the organization will extend his contract and include him in their future. He could become their face of the franchise starting this season.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NBA Opening Night is set to begin on Thursday, October 22nd, with the New York Knicks facing the Boston Celtics, and the Minnesota Timberwolves taking on the Los Angeles Lakers. As for the Brooklyn Nets, their first game of the season will be against the Atlanta Hawks on October 23rd. That is two days after [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5340,"featured_media":101009,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,6,62],"tags":[4069,49161,2113],"class_list":["post-100873","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nets","category-nba","tag-cam-thomas","tag-jordi-fernandez","tag-nba-contract-extension"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100873","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5340"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=100873"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/100873\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/101009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=100873"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=100873"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=100873"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}