Brooklyn Nets guard Cam Thomas did something on Wednesday that hasn’t been done in NBA history: score 36 points off the bench in a season opener. While there have been some exceptional season-opening performances by bench players throughout league history, Thomas surpassed all of those games in a wonderful showing of his own.
Thomas came through in a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in which it was fair to wonder where Brooklyn would have been if it wasn’t for Thomas scoring the way that he did. What made Thomas’ performance interesting was the fact that no only was he efficient, but he did his damage on mostly mid-range jumpshots and free-throws.
Thomas, in his third season in the NBA, is in an interesting spot with the Nets as it’s clear that the team needs him to play every night. The question moving forward will be: how big of a role should he have? Until then, here’s how NBA Twitter reacted to Thomas’ record-breaking game: