Nets' Cam Thomas One Month from Oct. 1 Qualifying Offer Expiration

The Brooklyn Nets and Cam Thomas have been stuck in a contract standoff for the better part of two months now. Thomas became a restricted free agent on July 1, yet he hasn't seen any traction on a new deal.

There's been rumblings that Thomas would be willing to play the 2025-26 season on the qualifying offer—a scenario which allows him to choose where he signs the following offseason—instead of holding out for the $30-$40 million annually he desires.

While that is absolutely a solution to the negotiations, Thomas doesn't have much longer to make up his mind. Come Oct. 1, the qualifying offer the Nets gave him will expire. Now, he and Brooklyn can agree to extend the qualifying offer, which would then have a March 1 expiration date.

If Oct. 1 passes and Thomas hasn't accepted the qualifying offer nor has he agreed with the Nets on an extension of the offer, the 23-year-old would remain a restricted free agent while losing the ability to accept a qualifying offer down the line.

Of course, the two sides can still work out a long-term extension that would keep Thomas in Brooklyn for years to come. Just last season, then-rumored Nets target Isaac Okoro found himself in a similar situation. He was a restricted free agent and was just 17 days away from his qualifying offer expiring. Instead of drawing out the negotiations even further, Okoro ended the drama, agreeing to a three-year, $38 million offer sheet with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Okoro's deal averaged out to just over $13.5 million per season. Ironically enough, guess what Brooklyn's reported top offer to Thomas has been? Two years, $28 million, just half a million more than what Okoro ended up settling for.

Obviously, the players are different in terms of what they bring to a team, but the numbers aligning—given the fact that they were in near-identical circumstances—seems to be too convenient to be a coincidence.

Based on Okoro's timeline, Thomas has exactly 11 days to get something done with the Nets' front office. If that doesn't happen, Thomas will look to the Oct. 1 deadline in hopes of Brooklyn caving to his demands or extending the qualifying offer deadline further into the regular season.

Regardless of what happens in the coming weeks, Thomas' negotiation cycle should—and likely will—go down as one of the most memorable and unique in recent free agent memory.