Brooklyn Nets Make Controversial Lineup Decision

The Brooklyn Nets got a big influx of players at the trade deadline. Sure, they shipped out Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, but they added four solid starters. That has meant some tough decisions have had to be made. And the odd man out appears to be Cam Thomas. He's being essentially dropped from the main rotation in a controversial decision by head coach Jacque Vaughn. 

Yes, that's the same Cam Thomas who became the youngest player in NBA history to score 40+ points in 3 straight games just two weeks ago.

But that came with the Nets shorthanded, with Kyrie Irving gone, and the reinforcements from Dallas and Phoenix not yet arrived. Thomas was thrust into a starting role.

Following the arrival of the four new starters (Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson) from the blockbuster trades, Thomas was relegated to the bench unit, and now, as Kristian Winfield of the New York Daily News writes, Vaughn has made the "difficult decision" to relegate Thomas's role even further.

With the impending return of Seth Curry to the rotation, Vaughn says Thomas could be "on the periphery of what he hopes is a rotation that moves closer to fewer than 10 players a night," according to Winfield.

“I’ll continue to reiterate how important he is to our group. Historically the three games of 40 were awesome, super happy for him. They can’t ever take that away from him. He’s in the record books,” Vaughn said of Thomas. “But at the same time, we lost two of those games in Washington by two points. So the ultimate goal is to create a team and an atmosphere where everyone can be a participant, and we’re going to utilize and maximize everyone’s talent.”

“It’s tough,” Thomas said. “From doing one thing and trying to adjust to the team because that’s just what you got to do. It’s tough for sure. So just got to figure it out and, you know, move on from there.”

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