There’s this picture of Cam Thomas the Nets released after the Practice-in-the-Park …. where received the biggest reception of the 21 players on hand. He’s sitting on the stoop of a Brooklyn brownstone…
resolute, determined and yes, alone.
“Ain’t shit funny” might be an appropriate caption.
It is Cam Thomas, September 2025. In charge of his own fate by his own choice. He knows he has to change the league’s perception of him and he has a finite amount of time — 82 games — to do it. And despite how he and they got to this point, Cam Thomas and the Brooklyn Nets are both approaching the season in the belief that they can help each other.
In talking to reporters on Monday, Thomas talked first about his new look: a lesser Cam, more svelte, perhaps better conditioned. No, he says, the change in his body was not a reaction to him having missed 73 games over the last two seasons, mostly to hamstring issues. Indeed, last year, he suffered three hamstring injuries that finally ended his season in March.
“No, it’s just something I want to do. Just me being me,” Thomas said. “Not really related to the hammies. … If I have the weight on or not, I’ll still be doing the same thing. It doesn’t really change how you play, really. At the end of the day, it’s how you look and how you feel. I feel good. Feel good, look good and you play good. The weight, it doesn’t really matter. It’s just what you go out there and do.”
He won’t say how much less he weighs than he did last season when in 25 games he averaged 24.0 points a game.
“Less now,” Thomas said with a smile.
He admits that last two years he bulked up so he could battle some of the league’s top defenders. Brian Lewis writes that the move concerned some on the Nets staff. Was he “a bit too bulky,” as Lewis put it?
“My last two years, I wanted to put on a little more weight, try the strong, bulky route,” said Thomas. “I mean, it was cool. I never liked how I looked, honestly, but the results were still good. At the end of the day, it’s about how you look and how you feel. So I feel like I look better and I feel better. We’ll see how it goes this year.”
There’s also been a change in attitude, says Day’Ron Sharpe, who was drafted along with him in 2023 but unlike him signed a two-year $12.5 million deal, the second year non-guaranteed.
“I’ll say that his mindset coming in [is different]. He’s being more of a pro now,” said Sharpe also a bit leaner in this year’s camp. “I feel like he’s got his body better coming into this season. But, you know, CT is always going to be that elite scorer that he is, so I just hope he continues to show everybody what he can do and put the league on notice.
“I think it will help a lot,” said Sharpe, who also trimmed his physique this summer. “You know, everything starts with the body. If we don’t take care of our body, we can’t play a full season. So, just for the fact that he bought into that, I feel like that means he’s showing everybody that he’s got a chip on his shoulder.”
His head coach has noticed as well and Jordi Fernandez who once said scoring was CamT’s “super power,” likes what he sees.
“I’m not a doctor. We, right now, know that CT is full go. He’s done a great job,” Fernandez said. “So nothing that he had last year is going to jeopardize this season. I want him to have the best season of his career, and that comes with being in great shape. And right now, he is in really good shape.
“We believe that he can sustain numbers if he’s in elite shape. The other thing is he tried so hard in these different areas, and his body couldn’t sustain it. Now, we believe he’ll be able to give the same effort, and his body will be able to sustain it. Twenty-five games is not enough. Hopefully he’ll get into the 70s or 80s.”
That would indeed help his bargaining position next summer. He’ll be an unrestricted free agent and unlike this summer when only Brooklyn had significant cap space, somewhere between 10 and 14 teams will be able to make bids on free agents.
As for how he can improve his game, Fernandez gave beat writers some headlines … and complimented the 23-year-old for improvements in a key area.
“The thing with CT is that teams can decide to try to get the ball out of his hands early or late. That’s where he has to trust the spacing and his teammates,” said Fernandez. “I think his game can evolve in that way. Defensively, I want his effort to be more consistent and more physical. He’s been great this training camp… His body looks great, and he’s done a really great job this summer. So I’m expecting to see a new CT and a way better CT.”
In other camp news, Fernandez said Drake Powell who missed Summer League with left knee tendinopathy, has finally started participating in contact drills but wouldn’t commit to whether he’ll play Saturday at Barclays Center vs. Hapoel Jerusalem. No word on Egor Demin’ status. He suffered a plantar faschia tear in Summer League.
“We have a plan for them, and they’ve been progressing as we’ve wanted,” Fernandez said.
- Why the Nets are seeing a different Cam Thomas in camp: ‘Just me being me’ ($) – Brian Lewis – New York Post
