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Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas is expected to miss the remainder of the season due to a left hamstring strain, the team announced Saturday. Thomas sustained the injury on the final play of Thursday's 116-110 loss to the Chicago Bulls. It marks his third left hamstring strain of 2024-25.
The fourth-year guard appeared in just 25 games this season, his first as the Nets' No. 1 offensive option. He averaged 24.0 points and 3.8 assists on 44/35/88 shooting splits.
“We're disappointed. We feel for him. Obviously, it's not something that we wanted,” said head coach Jordi Fernandez. “We’ll work with him and his group and we’ll get him back healthy, which is the most important thing. We’re not concerned with the type of injury, per se. Obviously it’s unfortunate it happened and the way it happened on the last play and it’s the third time with the same hamstring. But we'll give him energy, help him, be with him, and get him back healthy as soon as possible.”
Thursday's game was Thomas' sixth since returning from a two-month absence. He played 33 minutes and recorded a career-high 10 assists with 24 points on 8-of-23 shooting.
What's next for Cam Thomas after his season is cut short by hamstring injury?
Thomas cracked Brooklyn's rotation in 2023-24 after spending most of his first two NBA seasons on the bench. He emerged as the Nets' go-to scorer during the second half of the year after they fired Jacque Vaughn and replaced him with interim head coach Kevin Ollie.
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The 23-year-old remains a polarizing player among NBA front offices. Thomas has flashed elite scoring ability against NBA defenses when presented opportunities, averaging 22.9 points on 44/36/86 shooting splits over 91 appearances the last two seasons. However, questions remain about his playmaking and defense following his injury-riddled 2024-25 campaign.
Thomas is in the final year of his rookie contract and will be a restricted free agent this summer. The Nets will control the cap landscape with a projected $55-$65 million in space.
The Detroit Pistons are the only other team projected to have significant cap space. They can create nearly $25 million.
“Cam has been great for the group. He’s worked every single day, he’s built relationships,” Fernandez said when asked about Thomas' future in Brooklyn. “We all know his superpower is being a very good scorer. He’s done a good job with his efficiency, his playmaking. You saw it in the last two games, especially in the first half [against Chicago], he had eight assists, and I think in the game against Cleveland his assists were very high too. And the way we played through him, I thought the team was playing at a high level.
We were working him back to being in elite shape and that’s the Cam Thomas who we want, who we expect. It’s unfortunate that he had the injury that he had three times, and now the most important thing is to help him to get back healthy. We’ll go through the summer together. We have a plan in place. And the plan is gonna be to be a team that wins consistently and we’re gonna get there together.”
