Why the 2025-26 Season Could Be Cam Thomas’ Last with the Nets

Cam Thomas is back—for now.

He's guaranteed to spend the 2025-26 season as a Brooklyn Net. Thomas signed the $6 million qualifying offer, giving him a no-trade clause and allowing him to become an unrestricted free agent next summer.

Brooklyn held all the leverage over Thomas this summer, largely due to its monopoly on the salary cap. No franchise was able to come even close to Thomas' asking price, thus there wasn't extreme urgency on the Nets' end to get this deal done.

That won't be the case next summer. If Thomas goes out and proves he's worth the $30-40 million, he'll have plenty of suitors in addition to Brooklyn. And in the still-early stages of the team's complete rebuild, losing a talent like Thomas could be a major setback.

That said, overpaying Thomas would be just as detrimental. The Nets' cap situation is one of the top two reasons why their future is among the brightest across the league. If Thomas shows much of the same that he did in 2024-25, but has rounded out either his playmaking skills, defense or even both, the front office cannot overreact; it must stay disciplined.

If Thomas progresses beyond what his value was assumed to be this summer, it's a safe bet rivals will be lining up to pry him away from Kings County—and the Nets won't be able to do anything about it.

Should that situation arise, it would be quite unfortunate that Brooklyn wasn't able to agree on a long-term deal this summer. That's, of course, assuming Thomas' asking price isn't as unrealistic as it was this summer, and that teams will be willing to throw a hefty chunk of their cap at a player of his caliber.

As of early September, Thomas' odds of re-signing with the Nets in less than a calendar year don't look too strong. Relationships can obviously always be rekindled; that's not the issue here. The problem is: would Brooklyn feel okay investing a high-cap number in Thomas? How would that impact Michael Porter Jr.'s future with the organization? Will there still be a piece of the pie available once one of Brooklyn's five 2025 first-round draft picks is up for an extension?

With so many unknown variables, it seems the Nets' best course of action would be to let Thomas walk, even if it may impact the overall talent pool. The risk may not be worth the reward, which is exactly why we could see the electrifying scorer suiting up elsewhere come the 2026-27 season.