The NBA has quickly moved away from scoring guards who bring little to no value to their teams apart from that one defining aspect of their game. One such player was available for the Los Angeles Lakers to fill their 15th roster spot. Luckily, they did not go the Cam Thomas route.
After returning to the Brooklyn Nets following a restricted free agency period that went nowhere, the franchise decided to cut their losses and simply waive the scoring guard after the trade deadline frenzy. The Lakers turned elsewhere to fill their 15th spot before Thomas was even off the market.
Los Angeles signed Kobe Bufkin to a two-year deal. Bufkin has been tearing it up with the South Bay Lakers, averaging 27.7 points and 4.7 assists per game. After Gabe Vincent's departure, the Lakers' newest full-time member of the roster should get some opportunity to compete for bench minutes.
Meanwhile, Thomas was signed by the end of Sunday too. Shams Charania reported the former Nets guard was on his way to the Milwaukee Bucks, adding to the franchise's desperate attempts to make it work with Giannis Antetokounmpo.
An argument could surely be made for the Lakers failing to capitalize on other buyout market options after the trade deadline. Thomas will not be one of those guys they should regret missing out on.
Lakers avoid risk by passing on Cam Thomas in buyout market
On the surface, Thomas has posted some impressive counting stats in his career. It's the way those buckets are generated that ultimately just helps no one.
Thomas is a black hole on offense. It's easy to point to two seasons of him averaging 20-plus points per game in 2023-24 and 2024-25. It's also just as simple to identify how bad the Nets were on offense during both of those years.
In 2023-24, Brooklyn was a bottom-10 unit, ranking 23rd in offensive rating (112.4). It was even worse for the Nets in 2024-25. They posted a mark of 108.1 that season, ranking 28th in the entire NBA.
Contextualizing the stats quickly removes most of their weight and leaves anyone asking one simple question. What does Thomas actually bring to a team hoping to win basketball games?
The Lakers are firmly the worst team in the league when it comes to bench scoring. 28.3 points per game quickly places them at 30th. The need may have been there, but the fit was not the right one.