Although it’s been a whirlwind week for the Nets, one of their young stars has stepped up on the court and entered the record books.

Cam Thomas has shown flashes of his scoring capability in the past, but has mostly been regulated to the bench with the likes of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant dominating the offense. Now that Durant is out with injury and Irving forced his way out of Brooklyn, Thomas has taken the offensive load for the Nets and then some.

In three games, he’s scored 134 points on the back of three straight 40-point nights. Thomas, 21, became the youngest player in NBA history to do so. He’s also the first Net ever to reach that feat since the team joined the NBA in 1976.

“It’s real surreal. I'm just glad to have my name in the history books, being this young,” Thomas said after Tuesday night’s game, a 116-112 loss to the Phoenix Suns. “Obviously, I'd rather have the win 'cause it sounds better when you have these 40-point games with the two wins that we lost. But It’s good to have my name in history. I’m still going to embrace it, being young you still want to embrace your accolades and be proud of the hard work you put in. That’s the main thing.”

Tuesday was just the second start for Thomas this season. The first game of this 40-point streak came off the bench, and as head coach Jacque Vaughn pointed out, the more impressive part of this run are the circumstances surrounding it.

“The increase in minutes, which means on his off-days and the days he’s not in the lineup he’s been preparing his body mentally and physically to be able to play almost 40 minutes three nights in a row. To be able to take the contact and shoot 20 free throws tonight,” he said after Tuesday’s game. “It's great that he's getting to show what he's capable of doing. I don’t think he’s ever got to a position where he doubted himself. For us as a group, as an organization never doubted him. He’s taken full advantage of the opportunity and producing.”

Despite the impressive scoring, the Nets are 1-2 in this stretch and with Durant unlikely to return before the All-Star break, Brooklyn may have to continue to lean on Thomas to maintain their playoff positioning.

Brooklyn currently holds the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference, but with the team struggling to string together wins without their stars, Thomas may need some help.

Popular in the Community