The Nets are approaching an agreement to sign former Knicks Lance Thomas, according to SNY’s Ian Begley.
32-year-old Thomas would be Brooklyn’s fourth and final substitute player. Like Jamal Crawford and Michael Beasley, Thomas didn’t play this season, having been cut by the Nets on October 18th. Thomas and Beasley played together for the Knicks in 2017-18 when Thomas was the captain of the Knicks. The two are close. Thomas’s pinned tweet on his Twitter feed, @ MrLance42, is a 2018 birthday greeting to Beasley.
Initially, reports reported that the networks signed Justin Anderson of the Long Island networks to a replacement agreement, but in recent days the team has been speechless about Anderson’s prospects. It was not known why Anderson did not sign.
This would be the third period of Thomas, born in Brooklyn, with the Nets organization. He was a member of his season’s goal training camp, but he played sparingly and was dismissed at the end of the preseason. In 2010, Thomas played for the Nets’ Summer League team after going off duty. He was cut during the team’s training camp and instead signed with the Hornets and established himself as a solid collaborator on and off the field. So in May 2014, he was invited to a mini-camp in the networks but was not signed.
In his eight-year career in the NBA, he averages 5.2 points and 2.6 rebounds primarily as a reliable 3-and-D role player. Over the course of his career, he fired from 38.3% from the deep, exceeding 40% three times.
The 31-year-old was the longest serving Knick player before being dismissed on June 29 last year, ironically to save a million dollars in salary space for chasing New York on Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.