The Nets’ outlook to make the NBA’s play-in tournament becomes less favorable with each loss. Before hosting the Golden State Warriors at the Barclays Center tonight, they went into their road game versus the San Antonio Spurs on Tuesday 21-39, the 11th seed in the Eastern Conference and 2 1/2 games behind the Chicago Bulls, which were 24-37.
Brooklyn has been spiraling, losing four straight and five of their last six games prior to facing the Spurs. Injuries and trades have been a major factor to the Nets not winning more games this season. The return of guard Cam Thomas may help reverse that trend with only 21 games remaining on their regular season schedule.
Thomas, just 23 and arguably the team’s best scorer, is a restricted free agent at the end of the season. Brooklyn took a risk by not locking up Thomas last season, as he was their leading scorer at 22.5 points, playing in 66 of the 82 regular-season games. The risk was warranted, as his inability to stay healthy has decreased his value, and he will end this season playing less than half of the team’s games. He had logged only 20 going into San Antonio.
Related: Jordi Fernandez has rebuilding Nets battling for a play-in berth (amsterdamnews.com)
Thomas returned against the Portland Trailblazers last Friday having been out since January 2 — 57 days in total due to a strained hamstring. It was only his second game of the calendar year, as he scored 16 points in a 121-102 loss at home. Before the injury, Thomas, drafted by the team in the first round (27th overall) in 2021 out of LSU, topped the Nets at 24.5 points per game.
“Decent first game back, obviously missed some shots that I normally make when I’m in rhythm and playing, but it’s just the nature of being off for a while and coming back and playing your first game, so the shots I’m not really worried about, that’s going to come,” Thomas said after the game versus Portland.
Brooklyn Nets head coach Jordi Fernandez said Thomas is a work in progress.
“He got up 17 shots in 21 minutes, so he got open, that’s what he does,” said Fernandez. “He still needs to keep playing to get his conditioning and get more minutes.”
At this point, Thomas will not play back-to-back games. In his absence, players such as 6-5 guard Keon Johnson, who is only 22, has been afforded extensive floor time. Johnson had played in 58 games heading into San Antonio with 37 starts and was averaging 10 points and 3.6 rebounds in 23.8 minutes.
Following the Warriors, the Nets will play the Hornets in Charlotte on Saturday, meet the Los Angeles Lakers at the Barclays Center on Monday, then play the Cavaliers in Cleveland next Tuesday.
