Cam Thomas Is Going So Scorched Earth Right Now That The Nets Might've Already Won The Kyrie Trade

Matt Fitzgerald2/07/2023 3:10 PM

So this is absolutely wild. Kyrie Irving demands a trade. Is deactivated. Then traded. All the while, in a magical two-game span, Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas is looking like an all-world scorer of the basketball.

A cool 44 points in a victory over the Wizards in which Brooklyn rallied from 23 points down.

Then, on Monday night, Thomas lit up the Clippers for 47 more on the road, albeit in a loss.

You might be thinking, "Umm Cam Thomas wasn't part of the Kyrie trade." You could also argue the Nets won the deal simply by ridding themselves of Kyrie's nonsense. Those points aren't quite what I'm getting at. Sometimes, a serendipitous opportunity arises when a star player gets traded away. With Kevin Durant out and everyone looking for anyone to step up, Thomas stepped forward and has risen to the occasion and then some.

While I was intrigued by the pieces that the Nets managed to get in the Kyrie trade, this sudden eruption and self-actualization from Cam Thomas is nothing short of revelatory. You've got Spencer Dinwiddie joining the squad, with Dorian Finney-Smith and Kevin Durant (when he's back) on the wing, and Nic Claxton up front. I'd keep Cam in that starting five at the 2 to see what he has (*whispers* bench Ben Simmons).

To still have someone this dynamic who can create his own shot without Kyrie in the picture is a huge bonus I'm sure nobody in the Nets organization was counting on. Maybe it's a flash in the pan, but when you're joining company with LeBron Freaking James at 21 years old, you're doing something very, very right to the point where it doesn't feel like a fluke. Maybe it's Brooklyn's warped version of Linsanity. IDK.

How do we feel, by the way, about Thomas bringing up the Kobe vs. LeBron debate...? I didn't know that was still a thing.

Whatever the complete, polar opposite of a Pyrrhic victory is, the Nets have to be feeling that in spades in the wake of their latest loss. Thomas backed up his breakout game and even bettered it by three points. I remember him playing at LSU and how unafraid he was to take any shot on the court. His numbers weren't all that efficient. But DAMN, he's made strides there to the point where even at the NBA level, you can just give him the ball and get the hell out of the way.

Seriously, with Thomas on this rapid ascent, two former Mavericks who played in the Conference Finals last year, and the noisiness of the Kyrie era finally silenced, KD should be in good spirits when he returns to the court. It'd be nuts to see him take this Nets team to a championship under the circumstances. The X-factor key to it all very well could be, of all people, Cam Thomas.