Cam Thomas Lands in Bottom Half of NBA Shooting Guard Rankings

As Cam Thomas remains unsigned nearly two months into free agency, it’s worth seriously considering how he might be viewed by other organizations around the league. After averaging 23.2 points per game over the past two seasons, you would think Thomas would be a hot commodity for any team looking to add a scorer.

However, the national media consensus and reported accounts from conversations with decision makers across the league indicate that Thomas may not be viewed as highly as someone with his scoring numbers would normally be.

In a recent ranking by The Athletic’s Zach Harper analyzing the top shooting guards in the NBA, Thomas was placed in the league’s bottom tier, coming in at No. 33.

After the surprisingly low ranking, Harper clarified his decision by explaining that it was based on uncertainty about how Thomas would be utilized if he returned to Brooklyn next season.

"Thomas should probably be higher, but I have no idea if the Nets are going to use him properly," Harper said.

Last season, Thomas reached career-highs by averaging 24 points and 3.8 assists per game while shooting 43.8% from the field and 34.9% from beyond the arc. After a slow start to his NBA career, Thomas had a breakout season during the 2023-2024 campaign after averaging 22.5 points and 2.9 assists per game.

Ahead of free agency opening, the Nets extended a one-year, $5.99 million qualifying offer to Thomas, making him a restricted free agent. According to NBA insider Jake Fischer, Brooklyn recently upped the ante, but Thomas has yet to budge. While the reported offer is a significant increase, it is still far from his reported asking price of $30 million to $40 million.

"Cam Thomas thinks of himself as one of the most elite playmaker scorers in the NBA, and he wants to be compensated as such. But to my understanding, the Nets have not offered Thomas anything more than a two-year deal with a team option on the second year in the $14 [million] AAV range," Fischer said. "At this point, Cam Thomas seems like the most likely to take the qualifying offer of all the notable restricted free agents on the board."

While Thomas may not be the most efficient scorer at this point in his career, he was surrounded by limited offensive talent, which hurt spacing and increased pressure, likely forcing him to take shots he otherwise wouldn’t have taken. He may not be a top player at his position yet, but ranking him among the league’s worst seems like quite a stretch.