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Michael Porter Jr. hits Cam Thomas with harsh reality after messy Nets, Bucks exits
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- Michael Porter Jr. hits Cam Thomas with harsh reality after messy Nets, Bucks exits
Michael Porter Jr. hits Cam Thomas with harsh reality after messy Nets, Bucks exits appeared first on ClutchPoints . Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here .
Cam Thomas is searching for a new home after being waived by the Brooklyn Nets and Milwaukee Bucks within two months last season. Michael Porter Jr. recently shed light on what went wrong for Thomas during both stops.
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"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," Porter said on The Road Trippin Podcast. "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. But when it comes to a team being willing to pay you and make you a number one option, it comes with so much more [responsibility]. 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."
Thomas showcased elite scoring flashes during his Nets tenure, averaging 21.4 points on .434/.353/.860 shooting splits over his last three seasons with the team. However, he remained one of the NBA's worst defenders and showed little development as a playmaker after stepping into a featured role.
Michael Porter Jr. opens up on Cam Thomas ' messy Nets, Bucks exits
Benny Sieu-Imagn Images
The Nets reportedly offered the former first-round pick a two-year, $30 million contract featuring a team option and a one-year, $9.5 million deal that required him to waive his no-trade clause last summer. Thomas turned both down and signed his one-year, $6 million qualifying offer.
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The fifth-year guard fell out of the Nets' starting five after the team improved with him sidelined by a hamstring injury, his third within the last year. Brooklyn waived him at the trade deadline after failing to move him. Shortly after, Thomas criticized the Nets for "not believing in anybody."
Thomas quickly received another opportunity with the Bucks but fell out of the team's rotation. Milwaukee waived him after just six weeks.
"I know he was frustrated about the contract the year before and the fact that Brooklyn didn't pay him. He's thinking talent-wise that he's as good as Austin Reaves , Jalen Green , guys like that, and they're getting paid $100 million contracts," Porter continued. "So I understand that part, but I knew when he left Brooklyn, I was like, man, he better change a couple of these things [in Milwaukee] or else it's going to be tough for him. When he first got there, they were raving about him because he had a few good games. Doc Rivers was complimenting him and everything. And then I'm sure he had a bad game and kind of went back into his shell a little bit. It can come off like he has an attitude, but really that's just him. And then I think it was downhill from there. But when it comes to being a basketball player and a talent, he's up there with the best of them."
Thomas will now attempt to catch on with a new team in unrestricted free agency.
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