Two teams let him go in the same season, the coach who talked about bringing him back is gone, and the market has answered with silence.
Doc Rivers said in March that Cam Thomas might be somebody the Milwaukee Bucks would revisit, and six months later Rivers is out of a job, the roster is full, and Thomas still does not have a team.
Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report ranked him first among the best free agents still available on Monday, which sounds like praise until it sinks in that topping that list in September is a bad sign.
How He Got Here
The road started last September, when Thomas took a one-year qualifying offer worth just under $6 million from the Brooklyn Nets instead of their multiyear offer, a bet on himself that fell apart fast.
ESPN's Vincent Goodwill reported that the relationship soured after Thomas was pulled from a January game against Boston for passing up shots late in the clock.
Brooklyn waived him on Feb. 5 and Milwaukee signed him three days later on a minimum deal for the rest of the season.
The start was exciting, with 34 points at Orlando in his second game and 27 more at New Orleans nine days later, but the role shrank from there.
He finished with 10.7 points in 16.6 minutes across 18 games while making 27.5 percent of his threes, and the Bucks waived him in late March to give Pete Nance a standard contract.
Rivers said at the time, "I thought Cam was really good overall, and he may be somebody we revisit."
Rivers was out the day the season ended, and Taylor Jenkins now runs the bench.
Why Teams Keep Passing
Pincus wrote that teams are skeptical Thomas plays a brand of basketball that leads to winning, and he floated the idea that Thomas might be better off rebuilding his value overseas.
That is a hard thing to read about a 24-year-old who averaged 24 points a game two seasons ago, but the numbers explain it.
He scored 13.5 points a game across 42 games last year, he never started a game in Milwaukee, and two front offices decided within seven weeks that his minutes were better used elsewhere.
Milwaukee's biggest need is someone to organize all of its talent, and Thomas has never been that player.
There is no room for him in Milwaukee anyway, since the front office is carrying 17 standard contracts into camp, two more than it can keep, and the guard group already has Tyler Herro, Ryan Rollins, Kevin Porter Jr., AJ Green and Caris LeVert, plus a rookie who could earn a real role in Brayden Burries.
What a Deal Would Look Like
Thomas is waiting on a call that will not come with guaranteed money attached.
A team that finished 32-50 could not find 20 minutes a night for him, so a contender will not either, and the best he can hope for is a camp invite or a minimum deal.
That door is closed in Milwaukee, where the front office has two contracts it worries about in Myles Turner and Gary Trent Jr.
He can still score, but he has not played since March 21, so any team that signs him is buying the memory of 24 points a night rather than the player Milwaukee saw.
