Bucks release Cam Thomas after just 18 games despite early high praise amid rough losing skid

The Milwaukee Bucks are already moving on from Cam Thomas. 

The Bucks officially waived Thomas on Monday night after he spent just 18 games with the franchise. Instead, the team opted to convert Pete Nance’s two-way contract into a standard one. 

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In total, Thomas spent about six weeks with the Bucks. The franchise signed him on Feb. 8 after he was waived by the Brooklyn Nets just days prior. The Nets first selected him with the No. 27 overall pick in 2021 out of LSU, but he saw his role steadily decrease this season. He started just eight games with the team in the first half of the year and played just more than 24 minutes per game while averaging 15.6 points and 3.1 assists. 

While the split may seem minor, considering Thomas wasn’t even there two months and has struggled all season, it marks a pretty quick turnaround for a franchise that was so high on him upon his arrival. 

Bucks general manager Jon Horst sounded like he wanted Thomas to be a key part of the team’s future when they signed him last month, and head coach Doc Rovers even gave him very high praise and compared him to both Jamal Crawford and Lou Williams just two games in.

“They’re similar, but they’re all different in their own ways,” Rivers said on Feb. 11, via The Athletic. “Cam wants to do right. He wants to play well. You can see that. And we’re going to give him every opportunity. I mean, the guy is a natural scorer, and you can see that. Probably forced one or two today where he overdribbled. You live with that, and you teach that to get that out of him. But overall, he was fantastic.”

The Thomas split is just the latest telling issue in the Bucks front office lately. The organization reportedly doesn’t want star Giannis Antetokounmpo to play any more this season amid his various injuries. Antetokounmpo, however, wants to keep going and isn’t aligned with them. The feud between the two comes after months of rumors suggesting that the franchise would trade their star player away, something that didn’t come together before the deadline. 

Antetokounmpo hasn’t formally asked for a trade, but he has said he wants to play for a consistent winner — which is something the Bucks aren’t. The team is entering Monday night’s matchup with the Los Angeles Clippers with just a 29-41 record, which has them in 11th in the Eastern Conference standings. They’ve lost 10 of their last 13, too, and are well on their way to missing the playoffs for the first time in a decade. 

What happens in Milwaukee this summer is still anyone’s guess. But Thomas, for the second time in a matter of weeks, will get another fresh start.