BREAKING: Brooklyn Nets ‘Disrespectful’ Cam Thomas Contract Offer Revealed | Can They BRIDGE GAP?

BREAKING: Brooklyn Nets ‘Disrespectful’ Cam Thomas Contract Offer Revealed | Can They BRIDGE GAP?

Coming up, are the Nets disrespecting Cam Thomas with their latest contract offer? And will the two sides reach an agreement? I’ll dive into that after this. [Music] You are Locked on Nets, your daily Brooklyn Nets podcast, part of the Locked On Network, your team every day. Welcome in to the Locked On Nets podcast right here on the Locked On Podcast Network. It’s your team, the Brooklyn Nets, every single day. I’m Eric Slater, Brooklyn Nets beat reporter for clutchpoints.com. Thank you for making me your first listen to the day. The show is 100% free on all those great platforms. On today’s show, I’m going to be reacting to the Brooklyn Nets reported offer to Cam Thomas, assessing whether it’s fair and whether I think the two sides will reach an agreement on a new deal. And joining the show now, we got Brian Lewis of the New York Post. and Brian, we both reported on a lot of stuff that the Nets have done this off seasonason, but the biggest story remains now what hasn’t been done, and that is Cam Thomas having no contract agreement with the Nets nearly a month into his restricted free agency. And we just got a report from Jake Fischer, NBA insider, who said that from what he’s what he knows, the Nets have not exceeded a two-year$28 million offer with a team option in the second year. So it has not gone beyond that. So that is the mid-level exception. Um two years it would seem like team option in the second year as I said when you saw that reacting to that offer or that reported offer that the Nets gave to Cam Thomas. Is that surprising to you? And do you consider that offer a lowball or disrespectful as a lot of people have you know kind of in the outcry after that report? Was it surprising to me that the offer wasn’t higher? No, not particularly because the Nets, as has been reported at Nauseium, are the only team really that has significant money to spend. So, they’re disincentivized to bid against themselves. Um, the other issue, again, this is my perception, is that Cam I believe feels he is worth more than that. So it brings up the question of well if the Nets give him more than that just because right homegrown guy in gender goodwill whatever they give him another $2 million just to do it he may still feel he’s vastly under underpaid uh also I I think the third factor is the Nets still have a significant sum of cap room, which I completely understand a number of Cam Thomas fans say should have immediately gone to him because he is their leading scorer and homegrown player. But the way the business of the NBA runs, you take advantage of sequencing your deals. So, if you are trying to use that cap room to try to squeeze first round picks or hell even swaps or second round picks or whatever, young prospects, whatever, out of a team that’s facing the second apron and you’re trying to take salary dumps, you need the cap room. Cam comes either last or next to last in that equation. you use the cap room, then you come back to camp. Um, so one, I’m not surprised that they aren’t throwing higher and higher and higher offers at him to get him to sign yesterday. I don’t think that’s going to be a yesterday problem, a today problem, a tomorrow problem. Maybe that’s a next month problem. Maybe that’s a September problem. I I don’t think that’s first and foremost. So, I think they’re going to start low. Cam will start high and we’ll see. But no, I’m not shocked at the amount or stunned at the amount, nor do I think it’s egregiously insulting uh based on where Cam stands in the landscape of the NBA and what kind of market he has right now. And that last thing you said is interesting because Cam very well may be finding this insulting and you know you look at the things that I’ve heard um you know about Cam’s camp going into negotiations is that they had some illusions to some deals like whether you want to talk about Jaylen Green or Emanuel Quickley or Jordan Pool whoever you want to say these guys these younger guards who have gotten paid in the range above $30 million annually. Cam came in and said, you know, I we think we’re better than these guys. His Cam said, we feel like we should be paid accordingly like those guys. And just based on the market, that’s not going to happen. And also, you know, a lot of those deals were made before the new CBA came into play. So, there’s an argument to be made about whether those guys would have gotten those deals if they were dealing in this new CBA, if those negotiations had happened in this new CB CBA. So that brings in an interesting question of, you know, how is Cam viewing this offer from the Nets? Like you said, if the Nets give him a few extra million dollars as a show of goodwill, does that really make a difference? Because if Cam’s at 30 million and the Nets are at 14 million, they go up to 16 million, is that really making all that much of a difference? So, you know, it’s it’s kind of tough to say, but when you look at that offer, you know, do you view this as a situation where the Nets are here, Cam Thomas is there, or there could be a meet in the middle, or do you think that this is going to be a hard line of the Nets of nobody can offer you more than this $14 million non-t taxpayer mid-level exception, and we’re not going to go above that? Well, I guess it depends on what you feel meeting in the middle is, right? And I guess that goes to what we’re saying. Um, I talked to somebody who knows Cam fairly well and three names that were discussed. Um, he does not feel, meaning Cam, I’m led to believe he does not feel that he is any inferior a player to Tyler Hero to, and you mentioned quickly and RJ Barrett, right? 27, 31, etc. he doesn’t feel he’s inferior to any of those players. You also correctly point out that this is a different landscape. Right? So if he thinks he’s that good, thus he should get paid that much and the qualifying offer is what it is. The net offer reportedly is what it is. meeting in the middle. If you’re saying meeting in the middle means 22, 23 million, 24 million, my supposition is that that’s unlikely. Um, do I still think Cam will be playing in a in a Ness uniform? Probably. But if you’re saying meeting in the middle is literally splitting the difference between 14 and 31. No, I don’t think that’s likely. And you know, it brings in the question of what does this say about how the Nets are viewing Cam Thomas? Because there, you know, I talked about this with numerous like salary cap people, like executives and things along that along lines going into the offseason and asked them, you know, do you think Cam Thomas will get something in like the 20 to $30 million range? And a lot of them said like maybe in the low 20s that’s what they felt. And I brought up the point, well the Nets don’t have to pay him that because if nobody has cap space, nobody can go above $14 million. So they don’t have to do that. So I asked them and I was like, so that would pretty much just be like a showing of goodwill to them to give him that much above that non-t tax per mid-level exception. And they were like, “Yeah, but when you have a player who you like, you don’t typically try to squeeze them and just, you know, you know, put them down to like the lowest amount that you could possibly give them.” And right now up to this point, it kind of seems as if that’s the way the Nets are operating. So it brings in the question of how are the Nets viewing Cam Thomas and what does this say about him? Because you would think if they viewed him as this guy, you know, as Cam viewed himself, as Cam views himself as this guy, a future core piece, a future starter, would they be risking squeezing him and, you know, him potentially taking the qualifying offer? It doesn’t seem like it. So to you, you know, does this say a lot about how you think the Nets are viewing Cam as a potential long-term piece? Uh, well, look, I would never dare to speak for Shawn Marx or Josiah, um, what I would say is this. I presume if the Nets saw Cam Thomas as I’m not even going to say a first team allNNBA player. I’d say if the Nets viewed him as an allstar potential all-star player, a potential $35 million player, we probably wouldn’t be having these discussions. I presume they would pay him. I also have to listen. Now granted, I know I always come on here and I say, “Don’t listen to what they say, just watch what they do.” I know I say that. But when I listen to both Jordy describe the players that he’s looking for and how he wants to play, and when I listen to Shawn describe the players that they’re looking for and how they want to play, 0.5 second basketball or half second basketball, multi-positional defense, length, quick processing, ball movement, I listen and I process this and I think, well, man, you’re you listed five, six strengths and I’m, you know, I’m waiting to hear ISO scoring or waiting to hear bucket about to happen. I’m waiting to hear, you know, individual gravity. And by the way, these are things that Cam is great at. And I don’t hear these words flying out of either one of their mouths. Okay. Well, then if I’m going to take you at your word, it makes me think while you appreciate Cam’s abilities and you respect him and you honor what he’s good at, it may not be the exact archetype that you’re looking for going forward. And I’m glad you brought that up because that quote that you just referenced from Shawn Marks. I asked Sean about the players that they picked picking, you know, three international ball handlers, people guy people presumed as point guards, also Danny Wolf, guys who needed the ball in their hands and a lot of pass first guys. And I asked Sean about it and he said, as you said, 0.5 second basketball, the ball doesn’t stick. It moves. And then the al the other thing was big guys, size, positional versatility, guys who make things hard on defense. And I wrote a piece yesterday about Cam Thomas. And I said, if you were looking to describe the antithesis of Cam Thomas thus far in his career, 0.5 second basketball, and guys who are versatile defensively and makes things hard on that end. That is not Cam Thomas whatsoever. So you have a lot of people who say actions over words. But in the Nets case, I think we have words and we have a action in what they haven’t offered Cam thus far, which I think says something about how they’re viewing him. Because as you said, if they viewed him as this all-star level level player, as he presumably views himself, they would not be risking him taking the qualifying offer. They would not be squeezing him down to the mid-level exception. They would want to keep him in the building at whatever cost. But, you know, you know, actions over words. It doesn’t seem like up to this point that’s how they’re viewing him. But now with that, it brings in an interesting conversation of what does Cam Thomas do? How does this camp approach this? Is the qualifying offer in play? Will they come to an agreement? We’ll talk about all that after a quick break. But before that, want to tell you about our friends over at Monarch Money. Ever wish managing your money felt easier? With Monarch Money, it can. Whether you’re growing your savings or planning a big purchase, Monarch puts you in the driver’s seat. It’s like having your own personal CFO, giving you full visibility and control over your finances. Monarch Money is more than a budgeting app. It’s a complete financial command center. You can track all your accounts, investments, and spending in one place. So, in addition to managing your money, you’re also building wealth. Guys, look, it’s a summer. Obviously, you might be going out to eat. You might be going to some sporting events, maybe a concert here or there. All of that adds up. You can track all your spending with Monarch in one place to make sure you’re meeting your financial goal. The subscriptions monthly, those all add up. You can also track all those with Monarch. You can see what you’re spending each month to make sure that you’re staying within your constraints. Guys, having everything on one app made it so much easier to manage money day-to-day. It’s really a gamecher. So, take control of your finances with Monarch Money. Use code lockdown at monarchmoney.com for 50% off your first year. That’s monarchoney.com. code locked on NBA for half off your first year. Coming back from the break on today’s Locked on Nets episode, talking with Brian Lewis of the New York Post about Cam Thomas’s ongoing contract negotiations. We said at the top that the Nets offer reportedly has not exceeded two years and $28 million with a team option in the second year and that is well below what Cam Thomas reportedly is seeking, which is something in the range of $30 million annually. And Brian, if Cam is not keen on accepting that, you know, two-year offer in the non-T taxpayer mid-level exception range from the Nets, his other option is to take the qualifying offer, which is a one-year $6 million deal. He would play out that deal and then he would be an unrestricted free agent next summer. He would also notably have veto rights on any trade during the season. So, let’s start here. If you were advising Cam Thomas and you had what the Nets reported offer is as one option, you had the qualifying offer as the other option, which direction would you be going in? Uh, I would pick door number three. Uh, I It’s funny that you mention that. So, on Monday, um, I was talking with, you know, a fairly prominent agent who was proposing that Cam is in a tough spot and that if he were Cam’s agent, he would be suggesting to Cam that Cam go back to the Nets and say, “You know what? I’ll I’ll take that two-year option, but I want I’ll that two-year deal, but I want a player option instead of a team option. The 14 million, whatever, fine. I’ll take it. I’m happy with it, but I’ll play on it. I’ll show up to work. I’ll do my thing. I’ll be a team guy, but I need a player option instead of a team option because there is always the risk, especially on a team that is trying to lose and also trying to develop five first round picks, right? four of whom three of whom are point guards and let’s call it four of which are perimeter players that if they’re just losing games they may say well you know we can cut your minutes here we don’t need to let you outperform a qualifying offer why would I do this you’re telling me that you’re leaving anyway you are telegraphing to me that you are leaving next year in unre unrestricted free agency. Why am I taking valuable minutes away from my prized 19 year olds that I need to develop to give them to a guy who’s patting his stats so he can get more money somewhere else other than here? I’m not saying that’s I’m not saying that that’s what they would do. I’m just saying both this agent and a second agent who I talked to both said the same thing. Although the first the second agent had said that actually months prior uh and this other one said it to me Monday and they both said we’re not we’re not suggesting that that’s we know that that’s what the Nets plan to do. I want to get that out there so that I’m not aggregated and it says, you know, Nets have insidious plot against Thomas, right? That’s not what I’m saying. But it is a fear and it’s not like it’s never happened. No, it’s not like this has never happened in the NBA. Go out and play and they think, you know what, I can outperform his contract. I know my worth. I know what I’m worth financially. I know what my abilities are as a player. I’m a better player than that and I can show the NBA. And that’s all true except you have to be given the opportunity to show the NBA. And if you don’t get that opportunity, now you’re in trouble. And I’m glad that you brought that up because I think there is sometimes a fun a fundamental misunderstanding about what the qualifying offer means and a player taking that. And what it almost always means is it’s the end of this player’s time with the team that they’re with. If you sign the qualifying offer, it means that you’re leaving. And in the net’s case, you know, Cam can take that. Like people have been saying, I’ve talked to a lot of media people, some other people who have said they think the most likely outcome is he takes the qualifying offer. And I’ve pushed back on that. First, because he’d be leaving a lot of money off the table on the table, and I just think that it’s a really risky move. And then second, if you put yourself in a position where you’re pretty much signaling that you’re not a part of this team’s long-term plans, I guess by their admission, but also by your own admission, then you’re in a position. Yeah. Where why are we giving you minutes? Why are me we putting you in a position where you’re taking away, you know, minutes from these other guys potentially? Are you going to get the ball as much as you want to? Are you going to have that role as the unquestioned leading scoreer? Maybe. But there’s a good chance not. Maybe the Nets would give him that role with the with the uh intention of flipping him in a trade later. But then it gets to Cam has veto rights on any trade, which greatly limits the Nets leverage in any potential negotiation. So Cam taking the qualifying offer is not from an asset retention standpoint is not a good outcome for the Nets. And in turn, I feel like it’s not a good outcome for him because he’s leaving money on the table and he’s taking away any incentive for the Nets to really put him in a featured role and give him all of that leeway to do these things. And I just think that the second option, you pointed out potentially a third option, but the other options of taking this deal, whether it’s two years 28 with the team option, whether they can work something else out in that range, I think that that’s a far better option for Cam Thomas because you lock in some money right now, you know, which is not insignificant. You know, $14 million a year, it’s a good amount of money and he hasn’t been paid that much. He was a he was a late first round pick. He hasn’t been paid that much. So, you lock that in and you also lock in the ability for yourself to probably have a solidified role. And if Cam can improve as a defender, as a playmaker, do these things, he can get paid a lot more. Like, it’s two years. Like, it’s not like, you know, Cam’s 23 right now. A two-year deal, he’s re-entering free agency when he’s 25. like you’re not it’s not the end of the world to take $14 million a year and you might think you’re worth a lot more, but you’re getting something now and you’re putting yourself in a position to get paid while you’re still very early in your prime. So, I don’t think the qualifying offer is all that realistic, but I have gotten push back when I’ve said that from other people. What’s your opinion? Do you think that that’s something that Cam’s going to seriously consider? I mean, it’s realistic. I think it would be the ultimate gamble, right? I mean, he Listen, I we should all have the self-confidence that Cam Thomas has, right? He has bet on himself before, right? I mean, you follow if you followed him in high school and you look at the year that he miss I mean, that would that year that he missed that I mean, that’s That’s about offensive usage, right? That’s about how he fits into a scheme, right? Cam is very, very self- assured. And Cam is a walking bucket. So, he probably more than most players that I’ve ever covered probably feels I can outperform this. My only contention is I hope for his sake that he is thinking through this carefully and realizes you have to be put on the stage to outperform it. So, is it reasonable to think that maybe he would take the qualifying offer? Yeah, you might. Um, but I I I wouldn’t advise it. Uh, and I think it’s incredibly dangerous to do it. I’d also, you know, I’d say, listen, if I don’t think it’s imposs Listen, I’m not in their negotiating room. I have no idea what their conversations are, but I don’t think it’s impossible to think if you could squeeze whatever $2 million out of the Nets, maybe you instead of that you could squeeze flipping a team option to a player option. I don’t know that that’s a hill that they’re willing to die on. And next year, now again, a lot can change between today, what, the 30th, and uh, you know, a year from now or 11 months from now, but I mean, half of the league is supposed to have cap space next year. And when I say cap space, I mean, you know, 25 million or something to spend. So, if he’s confident in his abilities, which we know he is, that means half the league theoretically should be able to pay him something like commiserate value. And by the way, one of those agents that I was talking to that was saying if I were his agent, I would be advising this said he thought Cam was worth over $20 million in a normal environment. This is not a normal environment. So you have to adapt to the environment you are in. But you know I also the cap space landscape it’s like how many of those teams are actually going to enter the off seasonason with that much cap space? Like that’s well that’s what I’m saying. A lot can change in 11 months or 10 months. That’s the thing is like I think that that Yeah. And I think that that’s also the dangerous aspect of it from Cam’s uh perspective. And I would have think that his camp has a lot of knowledge of this stuff. But this idea that I’m going to take the qualifying offer. I’m going to play the one-year deal. I’m going to enter the enter next season when there’s just vastly more cap space like that might not be the case a where all these teams has this cap space because we see extensions get done cap space gets dried up a lot quicker in this new CBA and then also just his player archetype if Cam goes out this year and he performs the same way that he has the last couple years he scores 23 points per game he’s semiaic and we still see the same deficiencies in his game is he going to get paid like this significant Is he going to get paid the $30 million that he wants to? I don’t know. Is he going to get paid 20 over $20 million? I honestly don’t know because we already know this about Cam’s game that he’s a bucket that he can score. The concerns are the playmaking and the defense obviously and to me more I would add the health by the way and the health. Health health obviously goes without saying another big risk of taking the qualifying offer. You played 25 games last year with three separate hamstring injuries to the same hamstring. So that’s a risk. But from the encore perspective, we know he can score. We know he can do that. Up to this point, the playmaking has not been there. The willingness in that end, and then more importantly, the defense for a two guard who’s undersized, the defense up to this point in his career, Cam has made a decision to not be fully invested on that end. Like, he just has not been a good defender. He’s not been invested a lot. I think it was a little bit better last season, but it was still really bad. So, if that doesn’t improve, I just I’m not sure how many teams are running to give him over $20 million in free agency, let alone 30. Because look at the guards that we’ve seen this year. Look at um Colin Ston. Look at Norman Pal. Look at Jordan Clarkston. Look at Malik Monk, who’s still unsigned right now, who I think is a better playmaker and does some other things better than Cam Thomas. This archetype is not being valued. It’s being valued less and less. So, I just I’m not sure if that market’s out there. And I think it would be really risky for Cam to take a one-year qualifying offer at 6 million, leave all that money on the table, and think that he’s going to get this, you know, much more expansive market next summer. But it’s not out of the question, and there’s still a lot more to talk out in terms of where we think this is going to go with Cam Thomas. So, we’ll talk about what we think is the most likely outcome after a quick break. Coming back from the break, closing out today’s locked on Nets episode, talking with Brian Lewis of the New York Post about Cam Thomas’ restricted free agency and his lack of a deal up to this point. We outlined extensively Cam was looking for something probably close to the $30 million range. The Nets have come in at 14 over two years or nothing exceeding that at least. And right now it seems like a little bit of a stalemate. They could come to an agreement. The qualifying offer could come into play. If you had to say right now, do you have any lean on where you think that this is going to end and what the outcome is going to be, you know, for both sides here? I I just can’t see him playing on a qualifying offer. I just I I shouldn’t say that. I can see him doing it. I just don’t think the odds are over 50%. He could do it, but I do not expect it. I expect him to be back in a Brooklyn uniform. Uh, I would think that the two sides can come together and come up with something that works for both sides. Um, I think maybe a a oneplus one, uh, where Cam saves some face and regains a little bit of control over the situation where he can get maybe the mid level for the first year and then if he has a player option, he can look and if everybody signed extensions and there’s no money again, he can pick up the second option. And if there’s, you know, cap space out there to be had, then he opts out and he lands somewhere else. I I I think that’s probably more likely than him playing on the qualifying offer because that’s just that’s really risky. 5.99. So, you’re leaving, you know, essentially 8 million on the table plus a second year. Uh yeah, and the history of guys other than M other than Miles Bridges, which is a whole separate weird issue, right, where it had nothing to do with his ability. Um other than Bridges, when you look at the guys that have played on the qualifying offer, it has not gone well. Uh he could be the apparition, I guess, but I don’t see that happening. I agree. I think it would be extremely risky. I’ve said to people who have said that they think that might be the most likely outcome that I push back. Is it crazy? I crazy might be a little strong, but it would be a bold move to say the least. And I’m just saying like you said, if the Nets are at $14 million annually over two years and he takes a $6 million qualifying offer, he’s leaving $8 million on the table this season. So next year, he’d have to make at least 22 million next year to make up for that. Which could he do that? Sure. But I outlined that it’s no guarantee by any stretch of the imagination. This is also a guy who’s been battling injuries for the last couple years. So if he’s hurt, there’s also all the other things we talked about about the role coming into play and how does that affect what the Nets are doing with him this coming season, which would in turn affect his market. So I think that that’s just really risky for Cam. I don’t think it’s the most likely outcome. I think the player option thing is interesting that you brought up because I would think Cam would be pushing for that, but again, he just doesn’t have any leverage. So, it it’s really tough. But, if he does get the player option, I mean, the Nets do have to spend to reach the salary floor regardless. Like, if they don’t make another salary dump or sign anybody else in free agency, they still have money that they have to spend. So, they can spend it on Cam Thomas this season and not be any worse off for wear. But if they give him that player option next season, it’s effectively a one-year deal. I mean, unless he just gets hurt and doesn’t play at all, like he’s going to enter free agency next season. So, they’d be giving him a one-year deal. I guess, you know, it would be some goodwill to pay him more than that. But, I don’t know if they’re giving him that player option and giving him an out after one year because I think he’s almost certainly going to take that out. And I think they’d want the extra year of team control to re-evaluate him further or potentially use him as a tradable asset. I don’t disagree with you. Uh everything you said is valid. I’m not saying that they want to give him a player. That’s why they reportedly gave him a team. That’s why it’s a team option. Uh I’m just saying you asked me to pick what might be I believe your term was meeting in the middle. And I’m saying if meeting in the middle is meeting in the middle between 14 million and 30 million. So that you’re meeting in the middle means paying him 22 million. I don’t see that. If the meeting in the middle is I’ll give you this contract, but I’ll flip the option from a team to a player. I think if that’s your meeting in the middle, that might be more likely. U than giving him an extra $8 million a year uh or and and making it like a long-term deal. So that’s why I’m saying that. Yeah. And I I’ve talked to some people who seem like, you know, it’s going to be difficult for the two sides to come to an agreement obviously because they’re not close and Cam has no leverage. And you know that just makes it a really difficult situation. I’ve had a few people throw at me like just give him a threeyear $50 million deal like team option or something in the last year and call it a day. And I’ve said you know what like that maybe in the net size that’s a little bit of an overpay based on what they have to pay him but you give him a three-year deal in like the 1617 million range. Maybe you have a team option on the last year. You still get two years of control. You know are you paying him more than you have to? Yeah. But like you’re not competing this year anyway. you have to spend the money on somebody this season. Maybe they really want to keep their books clean, but like they took Michael Porter Jr. on who’s got two years left on his deal. That 2027 summer is a summer that a lot of people are talking about. Giannis is going to be a free agent. There’s going to be some other guys. The Clippers are clearing a lot of space for that summer. So, if you have MPJ on that two-year timeline, if you can match Cam on that timeline, you give them a two or threeear deal. If you three-year deal, you have a team option on the third and you have your books clean for 2027 doesn’t seem like the worst outcome to me. I don’t know if the Nets are going to do it. But if the Nets aren’t willing to do that and they’re not willing to go up to 167 million a year and they’re really just squeezing Cam for every penny that they can, again, like what does that say about how they’re viewing him? I mean, I don’t I don’t think they’re squeezing him just for the sake of so they can get to the floor and and I think the player that that money is going to uh at least I think hopefully in their eyes is not on their roster currently. I think they’re still out there trolling for salary dumps. I mean, we can’t have it both ways, right? You can’t say, “All right, well, Shawn Marks had all this cap space and what did he do with it? He didn’t do anything with it.” And then say, “We’ll give the money to Cam Thomas for no reason.” We can’t have it both ways. If you want him to be effective and efficient with the cap space, especially on a team that’s tanking, that doesn’t mean going out and throwing it at, you know, I don’t know, Josh Giddy so they can have five point guards. I mean, that’s not that’s not what they’re spending it on. The idea is to go out and take at least another dump, whether that’s one large salary dump or several smaller dumps, you know, for a sec, two second rounders here and swap there, whatever it is. Uh, I think that probably comes first and that’s where the lion share of this money goes, right? I mean, they have a number of they have a number of guys that are on non-G guaranteed contracts, right? I can’t say I don’t think the non-G guaranteed contracts are going to determine what they do with that cap space and what salary dump they take. I think it’s the other way around. I think if they can find a salary dump deal that they like, that determines what happens next. At least that’s my that’s my supposition. Effectively that determines how much money maybe they’re going to be willing to spend on Cam Thomas and not just they can exceed the cap to resign Cam Thomas for everybody. Obviously, yes. Yeah. They have his birth right. So they can exceed the cap like they could do the salary dump and they could exceed it. But I think Brian’s point is if they do the salary dump and they use up their remaining cap space and they have that much more money on their books, that might impact obviously how far above the cap you want to go to resign Cam Thomas. Whereas if you have just this $20 million of cap space that you have to spend and you can’t find the salary dump, you give Cam Thomas a little bit more money. I would say that, you know, just last thing and relating to my point before, we looked at, you know, Dron Sharp and Zire Williams were much smaller deals, but they got those deals done right away. And I’m not saying that those guys were priorities and Cam necessarily wasn’t, but I’m saying if Cam was a big priority, I would think that they would have a deal done by now. I don’t think it would be stretching out to this point. And it’s not something where like Cam is, we’ve heard Cam’s confident that they’re going to get something done and it’s worked out. The Nets are just figuring out the rest of their business. We haven’t heard any of that. We’ve heard that they’re far apart and a deal has not been done and we don’t know when it’s going to be done. And if Cam was a long-term piece, someone they viewed as an all-star, I think we wouldn’t be having this conversation. That’s all. Brian, before we go, you have anything else to add on the situation? No, I think I think we’ve covered it with Cam. All right. I appreciate you taking the time as always. We got a little bit of a layoff. You know, there’s still Cam Thomas business. There’s still salary dumps, but a little a lot of the craziness is in the rear view, but we’re going to circle around. We’ll have more business to talk about. We’ll have training camp and all that. And I’m sure that we’ll have you back on then. So, I appreciate you taking the time, man. That does it for this episode of Locked on Nets. Hope you guys really enjoyed the talk with Brian. We touched on a lot of stuff relating to the Cam Thomas contract negotiations. If you guys do not already, make sure to subscribe to Lockdown Nets on YouTube and wherever you get your podcast, whether Apple Podcast or Spotify. If you enjoy my content, smash that like button, leave a comment. Let me know what you think about Cam Thomas’ contract offer. Is it fair? Is it disrespectful? Do you think the two sides will reach an agreement on a deal? I’ll have coverage of all that and more here on Lockdown Nets when I’m back tomorrow talking more Brooklyn Nets basketball.

Erik Slater and Brian Lewis react to the Brooklyn Nets’ reported contract offer to Cam Thomas. The discussion covers the changing NBA market landscape, potential negotiation strategies for both sides, and what the outcome could reveal about Thomas’ future with the Nets.

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