Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas wound up in his coach’s doghouse on Friday for seemingly passing up a shot to preserve his stats.
With roughly three seconds left on the shot clock, Thomas was on the receiving end of a pass while standing on the logo during Friday’s game against the Boston Celtics at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. While the shot obviously was not ideal, Thomas seemed to have no option but to throw up a heave and hope for the best.
Instead, Thomas quickly passed to Ziaire Williams, who was forced to throw up a hopeless shot that was blocked as the shot clock expired.
Thomas was immediately subbed out of the game, and even the Celtics announcers felt it was because he was trying to salvage some semblance of his stats by not taking a shot that was unlikely to fall.
Cam Thom passed up a shot to protect his FG% and got BENCHED immediately 😭
— BrickCenter (@BrickCenter_) January 24, 2026
Celtics announcers COOKED him. pic.twitter.com/j7kXRVfGZI
Fair or not, Thomas has something of a reputation as a selfish score-first player, which he takes offense to. That reputation is not going to go away with moves like the one he pulled here, though, especially when he has been disrespectful to his coaches before.
Thomas has seen his role reduced this year and is averaging 16.2 points per game, primarily off the bench. He is widely viewed as a trade candidate prior to the Feb. 5 deadline.
