28.2 million in 2 years? Thomas, the small train, is it worth a contract?

The free market has opened nearly January, and Cameron Thomas' contract renewal has not been negotiated.

Latest news, according to American journalist Jake Fischer, the Nets provided Thomas with a two-year contract of 28.2 million (equivalent to two-year full middle class), of which the second year is the team option.

Let's take a look at some previous news:

--On July 4, reporter Jake Fischer reported that Thomas wanted an annual salary of 30 million, but he had no market

-On July 8, reporter Eric Pincus reported that Thomas was seeking a contract with an annual salary of more than 30 million in negotiations

-On July 9, reporter Brett Siegel reported that the Nets were lowering prices, and there were no competitors in the market

-On July 18, a reporter from the New York Post reported that Thomas insisted on asking for an annual salary of 30 million, and did not intend to give up at all, because he thought he was not inferior to Quickley, Hero, and Barrett (the annual salary of these three was around 30 million)

-On July 19, famous reporter Zach Lowe said that Thomas was brushing data. Thomas personally fought back on social media

, asking for an annual salary of 30 million yuan, and the other side was an annual salary of 14.1 million yuan. The second year was still a team option. You can see that the gap between the Nets and Thomas is quite large.

Then the question is, Thomas, what kind of contract is more appropriate?

First look at the performance. Last season, Thomas played 25 games for the Nets, averaging 24.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game, shooting percentage of 43.8%/34.9%/88.1% in three events, and a real shooting percentage of 57.5%.

Another year before, in the 2023-24 season, Thomas' performance was: playing in 66 games, averaging 22.5 points, 3.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game, shooting percentage of 44.2%/36.4%/85.6% in three events, and a real shooting percentage of 55.4%.

As the 27th pick in the first round of the 2021 class, Thomas did not get much chance in his career more than a year ago. It was not until after Irving and Durant left in 2023 that his playing time suddenly increased, and Thomas did not disappoint. He got 4 times of 40+ in just two months.

In the past two seasons, Thomas has even been in the ranks of 20+ per game. He has outstanding advantages, strong scoring ability, and excellent offensive skills. He can hold the ball and take three-pointers, stop or step back and shoot mid-range shots, and hit the basket. As long as he is given the ball, he can hand over the data.

And the point is that Thomas has a strong explosive scoring power. One statistic is that in the past 114 regular season games, Thomas has scored 40+ in 9 games. This number can already rank fourth in the Nets' history, which is enough to show how excellent his explosive scoring power is.

basketball game is nothing more than who scores more points, so it is definitely a good thing to be able to output, which also gives Thomas the capital to negotiate. But objectively speaking, Thomas has shortcomings, and there are many.

First of all, Thomas has excellent explosive scores, but his scoring stability is average. He can play 40+ in multiple games in a row, or he can score only 20 points in multiple games. In terms of overall efficiency, Thomas can only be considered medium or even lower.

Secondly, Thomas' passing ability is insufficient. Although he has been consciously improving in the past two years, he still cannot be said to be qualified. He averaged 3.8 assists per game last season and made 2.5 mistakes, and he made a lot of mistakes.

Finally, Thomas' defense was also one of the hard flaws. He was only 1.91 meters tall, and his defensive talent, awareness and skills were not enough. He could not defend against the outside. He was directly hit by the inside due to misalignment. In terms of data, last season, Thomas' offensive BPM was very good, reaching +2.8, but his defensive BPM was also as low as -2.6.

In today's era, there are actually many defenders like Thomas, who are both strong offense and weak defense, have no efficiency and no passing. They are good at doing well, such as Anthony Simmons, who can shoot three-pointers better than Thomas and pass better. They won the Trail Blazers' 4-year 100 million contract, but even Simmons was replaced by Holiday, who was single in the offseason.

The poorly made Sexton, who changed to the Cavaliers and Jazz, did not play. Last season, the Jazz sold him for a year but did not sell any real assets. Finally, this summer, he took the second round to exchange Nurkic.

Players like Thomas may even get a big contract if they are in a friendly free market environment or encounter a parent team that values them more seriously.

Unfortunately, the current situation is that the free market environment this summer is extremely poor, and the Nets do not regard it as the real future, so first of all, the 30 million option can be ruled out - if you really give it, the Nets will be stupid.

But to be honest, 28.2 million in 2 years, and the second year is still a team option. This kind of quotation is a bit insulting. After all, Thomas really has some offensive development capabilities, and he is only 23 years old. The possibility of continuing to make progress in the future is not ruled out.

Pure personal opinion, Thomas' ideal price should be between 15 million and 20 million, which may be a little different from Thomas' ideal price, but it is better than the full middle class option of taking the team in the second year.

Of course, Thomas also has another option, accept a quotation of 5.99 million yuan for one year, and then become a free agent next year, and pursue the desired annual salary of 30 million yuan.

However, from the examples of the past years, it is often difficult for players who accept qualification quotes to get their favorite contracts in the future (Myers Bridges is a special case), so Thomas still needs to measure it carefully.

Considering the market environment this summer, it really doesn't work. If you don't want to accept it for 28.2 million in two years, you have to accept it. If you are really a superstar, it will not be too late to get a big contract in two years.