Remember the Cam Thomas hype after the Milwaukee Bucks signed him in February? He lived up to it, at least at first, dropping 34 points in his second game with the team. He followed that up with a few more double-digit outings, and that was that. Literally.
Milwaukee waived him less than two months after signing him, and here we are over four months later, and he's still unsigned.
Thomas wouldn't have been eligible for the playoffs had a team signed him at the end of March, but perhaps if that hadn't been the case, he might've gotten picked up. It may not have worked out that way, though, considering we're over a month into the start of free agency.
Chances are, you may have forgotten about Thomas, considering that there hasn't been much of anything reported about his future. He could end up somewhere in time for training camp, but the fact that the 24-year-old is still available says a lot.
Cam Thomas is still an unrestricted free agent
This time last year, Thomas was still unsigned, but that's because he was a restricted free agent, a painfully slow process. He reportedly turned down a two-year, $30 million offer with a team option in the second year from Brooklyn, choosing to bet on himself by signing his one-year, $6 million qualifying offer.
It didn't work out the way he would've liked.
The Nets waived him after they couldn't find a suitable deal at this past February's deadline. The Bucks were right to take a flier on him (why not try?), and it was an opportunity for him to rebuild his value before free agency this summer by playing for a team that was at least trying to win. At first, it seemed like a move that'd work out for both sides, but Thomas flamed out. Fast.
Things went from Doc Rivers comparing Thomas to Jamal Crawford and Lou Williams to the guard quickly falling out of the coach's rotation, with Rivers saying that players who play the "right" way would be on the floor. The writing was already on the wall, and the Bucks waived him to convert Pete Nance to a standard NBA contract.
Thomas arrived in Milwaukee with a reputation as being selfish and nothing more than a volume scorer. The way that things ended with him and the Bucks didn't do him any favors, or else he probably would've been on to his next opportunity by now.
He's still young, so it's hard to think that he's already hit the end of the road in the NBA entirely, but the way the past year went for Thomas has clearly served as a cautionary tale for the rest of the league.
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