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Cam Thomas is no stranger to being overlooked throughout his basketball career. The Brooklyn Nets guard's omission from ESPN's Top 25 NBA players under 25 is the latest example of the polarizing discourse surrounding his game.
Thomas offered a blunt response to not making the list.
“If you look at the numbers and look at what I do against everybody I play against, there's no debate or discussion,” he said. “I just know what I do and I'll just keep believing in myself. I just want to help the team win the best way I can. So I don't really care about a list or anything. As long as your peers know that you're one of the best players, then that's all that matters to me.”
Thomas' snub comes amid a career-best start during his first season as the Nets' No. 1 offensive option.
Where does Cam Thomas stack up with the NBA's young guards?
By the numbers, Thomas has been among the NBA's top young guards in 2024-25. The 23-year-old has averaged 24.7 points and 3.4 assists per game on 46/39/87 shooting splits, all career-highs. He's posted a career-high 60.6 true shooting percentage, over three points above league average despite attempting 17.5 shots per game.
He ranks fifth in scoring among players 24 or younger, behind only Tyrese Maxey, Anthony Edwards, Paolo Banchero and LaMelo Ball. However, he ranks first in true shooting percentage amongst the top five.
“More teams are trying to take me out, take me away,” Thomas said of his first season as the Nets' top scoring option. “But I'd probably say this year I'm just more comfortable and I'm really just going into the game with a good feel of what to expect from defenses or what defenses can throw at me. So I think that's really what I can say has helped me so far.”
Outside of his efficiency, much of the criticism surrounding Thomas' game since he entered the NBA has centered on his lack of playmaking and defense. While the fourth-year guard has averaged a career-high in assists this season, he has a ways to go as a facilitator.
Thomas has posted a 12.6 assist ratio (percentage of a player's possessions that end in an assist), ranking 91st out of 114 qualified shooting guards, per ESPN. While Jordi Fernandez has emphasized the importance of a more balanced pass-shoot mindset, the Nets guard still ranks toward the bottom of the league in pass frequency. He averages one potential assist per 10.2 touches, a marginal decrease from last season.
While his on-ball defense has taken a step forward, he frequently gets lost off the ball. Opponents are scoring 6.9 more points per 100 possessions with Thomas on the floor, the worst mark amongst the Nets' starters and the fourth-worst among 37 combo guards to play over 250 minutes this season, per CleaningTheGlass.
These shortcomings, coupled with his elite scoring ability, continue to make Thomas a polarizing player across the league.
It won't be long before NBA front offices reveal how they value him. The 2021 first-round pick will be a restricted free agent this summer after failing to reach a rookie-scale extension with the Nets.
