Kevin Durant spearheaded the Houston Rockets rout on Thursday, but shared some honesty involving the Nets reserve.
Kevin Durant emerged as one of the leading scorers in a starter's role for the Houston Rockets. Cam Thomas carried the Brooklyn Nets on the scoring side -- as a reserve.
Thomas, who entered as the team's second-leading scorer, has come off the bench as he returns from a hamstring injury. Yet all he's done is drop 30 points in 20 minutes against the Minnesota Timberwolves and score 13 in 19 minutes versus the Golden State Warriors.
He produced 21 points on a night Durant dropped 22 for Houston's 120-96 trouncing at Barclays Center.
Thomas is averaging 21.3 points per game since his return. He was putting up 21.4 a night before his ailment. Thomas is still young at 24 years of age -- leaving the past NBA champ Durant to share these honest words via Erik Slater of ClutchPoints.
“I feel like Cam has a bright future. It just takes somebody to believe in his talent and his skill," Durant said.
Durant's beginning statement points to him believing the Nets and head coach Jordi Fernandez are seldom using Thomas. And he added more context to his belief for Thomas.
"Scorers and guys that score the basketball at a high rate, they get taken for granted in this league a bit," Durant said. "We’re so used to loving defenders and playmakers and guys that can be connectors, sometimes scorers get taken for granted."
He then dropped this hope for Thomas during his tenure in Brooklyn.
"So hopefully somebody takes a chance on Cam and gives him what he deserves and puts the ball in his hands and builds around him and lets him grow into a player… Hopefully a team puts some trust in him," Durant said.
Thomas now finds himself in a precarious spot. While he's working his way back into earning hefty minutes, he's witnessed younger teammates breakout.
Egor Demin has stepped up as a shooter despite missing Thursday's game with a lower back issue. Danny Wolf is another rookie fueling intrigue as a facilitator and shooter. Drake Powell earned starter minutes against Houston and has impressed the Nets before with his athleticism.
There hasn't been much chatter for Thomas on the trade market. Brooklyn, at 10-21 and losers of two straight, likely will spark new trade ideas across the league. Thomas, though, isn't the Nets player who's hearing the most talk there.
NBA insider for The Stein Line Jake L. Fischer reported Thursday that the Warriors have discussed the idea of trading for Brooklyn leading scorer Michael Porter Jr. Porter, however, would become a hard move amid his massive salary Brooklyn took over when it traded for him in the summer via the Denver Nuggets.