There are not many players in basketball history like James Harden, but the point-scoring savant spent his only training camp with the Nets and saw an outline of the same type of player.
“He reminds me of myself,” Harden said in early October 2021 of Cam Thomas. “Obviously, Cam is a much better scorer than I was coming out of college.”
Back then, Thomas was a rookie reserve guard out of LSU who was making an early impression on the superstars in front of him.
Of course, that Nets team disintegrated.
Harden was the last of that edition’s Big 3 to arrive in Brooklyn and the first to go, forcing his way out in February 2022.
The dream trio of Harden, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving was soon leveled.
The Nets immediately began a rebuilding process and accrued as many assets for the future as possible.
But it is possible the future of their offense was already in-house, a player in Harden’s mold as one of the purer scorers in the game.
Is Thomas taking a leap toward stardom?
A few years later, Harden will be around to get a glimpse of the new and improved version of Thomas as the Nets host Harden’s Clippers on Wednesday.
With the superteam Nets, Thomas was a young scorer mostly used in bursts.
With the subtler Nets, Thomas has been prolific in bulk.
After his 45-point explosion in Monday’s loss to the Bucks, Thomas entered Tuesday’s off day as the seventh-leading scorer in the NBA at 28.7 points per game — one slot below Durant’s 29.9 points.
He is taking plenty of shots (21.6 per game, second-highest among qualified players) but shooting a respectable 48.3 percent from the field.
The Nets traded Durant for a package that included Mikal Bridges, perhaps believing the lengthy wing would grow into their undisputed leader, but the offense is now being run through Thomas.
“He’s going to have some nights where the ball doesn’t go in. But for most nights, I think he can score the basketball against anyone in this league,” head coach Jacque Vaughn said after Thomas kept the Nets afloat against Milwaukee. “I think he has the confidence to do that.”
There is little doubting Thomas’ confidence.
Before facing off against Damian Lillard, Thomas was asked if he was about to see the best 3-point shooter off the dribble in the league.
Thomas smiled and said he thought he himself held the honor.
And then Thomas backed up his words.
Against a Bucks defense that kept dropping on pick-and-rolls, the 22-year-old nailed jumper after jumper in a 7-for-14 half.
They pressed more in the second half, and Thomas responded by driving more and hitting an array of floaters and runners on a night he shot 17-for-33.
What might have been his two biggest shots — a reverse layup with about 15 seconds that Giannis Antetomkonpo blocked and a corner 3 in the last seconds of a four-point game — did not fall. But there was no debating who should have the ball in his hands in those moments.
“That’s who Cam is, man: a certified bucket,” said Bridges, who is playing well but whose usage rate has dipped as Thomas’ has risen.“Growing up, you want to take the last shots in the NBA. Everybody wants to,” Thomas said. “Everybody dreams of it, so I’m just glad that our players and obviously our coaches have the trust in me to take that shot.”
There are obvious drawbacks to Thomas’ game. His work on defense has improved but is still a negative.
He has dominated the ball for an average of 34 minutes in seven games this season and is managing 2.4 assists per game.
But as a scorer who can create his own shots and finish, Thomas has made a serious case that he has unique skills that the Nets should continue to lean upon — even when Cam Johnson (calf strain) and Nic Claxton (ankle sprain) return.
Thomas is running with the No. 1 scoring role and showing he can be one of the game’s best at racking up points. He might not be James Harden, but he is looking like a supreme scorer who can carry a team.
“The last shot was for him,” Vaughn said about Thomas in crunch time. “He’ll probably see another one.”
