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The Brooklyn Nets are just at the exordium of their rebuild.
The trade market was kind to them last offseason, allowing them to stockpile first-round picks while moving a player that wasn’t able to maintain the role they had envisioned for him. On the heels of that decision was an expectation that Cam Thomas would take over as the No. 1 scoring option. A late first-round pick in 2021, Thomas was coming off of a career season, averaging 22.5 points per game.
Nets’ Sean Marks Opens Up About Re-Signing Draft Picks
As it so often happens for teams that are already down on their luck, Thomas then sustained an injury. Ultimately, he was sidelined for 57 games in 2024-25. With that in mind, Thomas is set to become a free agent this summer.
This was an avoidable outcome, as he had been offered a contract extension prior to the season. Nevertheless, instead of heading into negotiations after a career year, he’ll head to the bargaining table after a truncated campaign. Perhaps fortunately for him, Nets general manager Sean Marks sounds as if he wants to re-sign Thomas.
Draft classmate Day’Ron Sharpe, too.
“It’s always great when you are able to draft somebody like those two specifically,” per New York Post reporter Brian Lewis, “and then they get this opportunity to [decide]: Are they going to sign their second contract with us?”
“So, I look forward to the summer, and look forward to those conversations with their agents, and we’ll see where it all plays out. But I do think it’s important to be able to keep your homegrown talent.”
Cam Thomas
In 2024-25, Thomas averaged 24.0 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 0.6 steals per game on .438-.349-.881 shooting splits.
The LSU product’s scoring prowess was repeatedly praised by Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez, who called it Thomas’s “superpower.” Even so, his untimely injury could lead to him getting a less lucrative deal than he might have had otherwise. At 23 years old, Thomas’s next contract could be his biggest though. Consequently, staying with a team that’s leaning on him offensively isn’t a bad idea.
Over the past two seasons, Thomas has averaged 22.9 points per game on .441-.359-.864 shooting splits. At this point of his career, he needs to start syncretizing his scoring instincts with seasoned decision-making. Though he’s put more of an emphasis on contributing in areas outside of getting the ball in the basket, he also needs to keep working on his playmaking and on-ball defense.
Day’Ron Sharpe
In 2024-25, Sharpe averaged 7.9 points, 6.6 rebounds, 0.8 steals and 0.8 blocks in 18.1 minutes per game; all career-highs. He had his best month in February, with averages of 10.7 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.5 blocks, and 0.8 steals in 18.6 minutes per game. That month, Sharpe also managed to shoot 5-7 from 3 despite being a career 29.5 percent 3-point shooter.
A relentless rebounder at 6-foot-11 and 265 pounds, the 23-year-old is a solid backup center. Playing behind the ultra-lean Nic Claxton, he not only can provide Brooklyn with depth but a complement to their franchise cornerstone. Speaking on his impending free agency, Sharpe says: “I’m new to this so whatever happens, happens. But I like Brooklyn, so God willing, [I’ll be back].”
More must-reads:
- Mavs' Kyrie Irving shares update on ACL injury recovery
- Jerry Jones again proves he shouldn't be making decisions for Cowboys
- The 'Most 1,000-rushing yard NFL seasons' quiz
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Mavs' Kyrie Irving shares update on ACL injury recovery
Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving, who tore his left ACL in early March, provided a minor update on his recovery process during a live Twitch stream earlier this week, as Grant Afseth of Dallas Hoops Journal relays. “I was in the gym doing a little bit more,” Irving said. “I won’t tell you exactly what I was doing because it’s all about incremental growth, but I can share with y’all [that] it was some good days in the gym. I’m healing up great. To this date (Aug. 26), this will be five months post-surgery.” Irving, 33, had taken on increased ball-handling and play-making responsibilities in the wake of the Mavericks’ Luka Doncic trade last season and was averaging 24.7 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.6 assists per game on .473/.401/.916 shooting through 50 outings when he went down with the season-ending injury. Irving became eligible for free agency this offseason when he declined his $43M option, but he didn’t seriously test the market, opting to sign a new three-year, $118.5M deal to remain in Dallas. Reporting back in April indicated that the Mavericks were optimistic about Irving’s chances of returning to the court sometime early in 2026, and president of basketball operations Nico Harrison suggested in July that the star guard is “ahead of schedule” in his rehab process. However, Harrison has also made it clear that the team won’t rush Irving back to the court, and the nine-time All-Star has preached patience as well, cautioning in July that there’s no guarantee he’ll be 100% healthy before the end of the 2025-26 regular season. “That doesn’t mean I won’t be back,” Irving said at the time. “It’s just — I don’t want to make any predictions on when I’m going to be back. I just want to be back 150,000% better.” With Irving sidelined, the Mavs are expected to lean on guards D’Angelo Russell, Brandon Williams, Dante Exum and Jaden Hardy, while frontcourt players like Anthony Davis and Cooper Flagg likely initiate the offense more frequently, too.
Jerry Jones again proves he shouldn't be making decisions for Cowboys
When it comes to major decisions for the Dallas Cowboys it is always going to be Jerry Jones' way or the highway. The problem with that philosophy, however, is that the Jerry Jones way has proven to be a failure for more than 30 years. It's long past time for him to give up control of the team and hire a real general manager to fix the mess he keeps creating. All of that is back on the front-burner again following Thursday's conclusion of the Micah Parsons saga, with the All-Pro superstar getting traded to the Green Bay Packers for defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two first-round picks. In a vacuum, it's not a terrible return. Clark is a legitimate starter on the defensive line -- and a very good player -- and two first-round picks are always going to have some value. But professional sports does not exist in a vacuum. There is always more context at play, and the context here is that an in-his-prime superstar (Parsons), that is one of the biggest game-changers in the league, and a player that was trying to make it work in Dallas, is now playing for somebody else because Jones could not get out of his own way. From the very beginning Jones bungled this contract negotiation, doing the one thing he does best — making himself and Cowboys drama the focal point, and what is best for the team a secondary matter. It's the Jerry Jones way. And it's a losing way. This situation did not have to end up the way it did. There was a perfectly reasonable outcome that would have seen Parsons remain in Dallas throughout the prime of his career and continue to be a focal point of its defense. All it would have taken was a common sense approach and an owner whose concern for the organization outweighed their ego. Every major negotiation with the Cowboys ends up getting drawn out into chaos. It's all part of Jerry's desire to keep him and his team at the top of the headlines. It usually results in him having to pay a player more money than he otherwise would have. And even that may not be a problem for Jerry because he gets to talk about how he negotiated and paid out this huge contract. This time, however, the plan finally burned him. If you want to reach, or if you want to carry Jones' water for him, you might be able to put together a somewhat coherent argument as to how this can work out. Maybe those two first-round picks will pan out in the future. Maybe Clark is a great fit in the middle of Dallas' defensive line. Maybe. Maybe, maybe, maybe. The more maybe's you throw in, the more likely it is they are not going to all pan out. Clark is good, but he's not Parsons. He is not as disruptive, he is not as good and he is going to be 30 years old this season while Parsons is still only 26. Two first-round picks looks good on paper, but the Packers are a pretty good team — and will be even better with Parsons — and those picks will likely be in the back half of the first-round. You hope to find a good player with at least one of them, if not both. The odds that either one is as good as Parsons are long. Since winning their last Super Bowl during the 1995 season the Cowboys have consistently been one of the NFL's most mediocre franchises. Never truly awful, but never good. They will make the playoffs semi-regularly, but never go anywhere. They have the longest NFC Championship game drought in the conference. They never get close to the Super Bowl and have not been bonafide contenders in literal decades. A sane owner would look at those results and would have fired multiple general managers for that run. Jones has no one to fire because he is the general manager. And he likes the way he is doing things. The problem is it doesn't work. It hasn't worked. And it won't work. History has proven that.
Post-Ashton Jeanty era gets off to brutal start for No. 25 Boise State
There had to be at least some expectation that the Boise State Broncos were going to take a small step backwards in 2025. They probably just did not expect it to happen so soon in the season, and so emphatically. The No. 25 ranked Broncos were absolutely humiliated on Thursday night, losing 34-7 to an unranked South Florida team that was just 7-6 a year ago. It was a rude awakening for what might be ahead for Boise State following the departure of Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty. Jeanty's historic season helped carry the Broncos to an 12-1 regular season, with the only regular season loss being a three-point defeat to Oregon early in the season. They ended up in the College Football Playoff where they lost their first game to Penn State. But with Jeanty on to the NFL (a first-round pick by the Las Vegas Raiders) there was always going to be a huge hole for them to replace. Not only in terms of production and skill, but also in their identity. They had none of that power-running identity on Thursday. Not only did they allow 34 consecutive points to South Florida, but the Broncos also managed to rush for only 122 yards on 38 carries, coming out to just 3.2 yards per attempt. They averaged 6.1 yards per carry in 2024, tied for the second-highest mark in college football. On one hand, losing an early season game isn't the end of the world, especially in the era of expanded playoffs. Boise State could still run the table the rest of the way with a very manageable schedule and play its way back into playoff contention. It's also not uncommon for teams to struggle early in the season. There is no preseason in college football and everybody is just coming in cold right into real games. Sometimes teams take a while to get moving. But this is not a particularly good South Florida team, and for Boise State to come out so flat and be so uncompetitive in the opener is a bad sign for what might be ahead.
Keegan Bradley opens up on the PGA Tour winner he hated leaving off the Ryder Cup team
Keegan Bradley has finalised his Ryder Cup selections, naming the six players who will join the automatic qualifiers for Team USA. The team is now set after Bradley announced his picks for Bethpage Black, and he did not include himself in the squad. Despite a solid PGA Tour year, the 39-year-old golfer finished 11th in the rankings, just missing automatic qualification. He therefore chose to focus on his captaincy duties rather than chasing a playing spot. Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa also missed out on automatic qualification but were later added by Bradley. Keegan Bradley admits he found it tough to leave Maverick McNealy out of his Ryder Cup squad Maverick McNealy was one of the players who missed out on a spot, and Bradley addressed that shortly after announcing his selections. He said: “Very, very difficult call to Mav. Incredible kid, played well all year long. I was very upfront with the guys that hadn’t made the team. “You really have to make the team on points in your first team, it’s really difficult to get a pick in your first team event. “I made that very clear to him and he still played great. I played with him a bunch of times this year and I was really impressed with his game. “I told him it’s okay to be angry, I left these calls really angry most times. You can use this as fuel. I said please be angry with me and make the next team. Make Brandt’s [Snedeker] Presidents Cup team. “I used it as fuel for most my career and I advised Mav to do the same thing because he made a great run at making this team and ultimately that was a really tough decision.” Maverick McNealy’s PGA Tour form in 2025 McNealy had the Ryder Cup on his radar throughout the season, but fell just short of earning a place under Bradley. The 29-year-old has one PGA Tour win to his name, having taken The RSM Classic title in 2024. He nearly added another this year, finishing runner-up at The Genesis Invitational. Ludvig Aberg ended up taking the win at Torrey Pines, edging out McNealy by just one stroke. McNealy’s exclusion from this year’s team, as Bradley pointed out, could motivate him to strive for future selections. Next month, the Ryder Cup returns to New York, with the hosts looking to reclaim the trophy from Team Europe. McNealy finished 10th in American qualification, ahead of Bradley.
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