A recent discussion has sparked within Nets World regarding the fanbase putting two of their best players against each other, Cam Thomas & Mikal Bridges. Despite the two being teammates and never showing any sign of rivalry or hatred towards one another, the Nets fanbase is constantly debating amongst themselves on who is better, often providing much hate and criticism towards the other as a result. Many are confused as to why this is the case, very rarely do fans vehemently debate players on the same team, however, as someone who has witnessed and even taken a part of this debate, I can break down the psychology as to why this discourse exists.
It all goes back to the 2023 trade deadline, after Cam Thomas had 3 straight 40+ point games, becoming the youngest player in NBA History since Allen Iverson to accomplish such a feat, Thomas was rewarded with multiple DNPs and limited minutes, with now former head coach Jacque Vaughn instead opting to prioritize Seth Curry and Joe Harris. The reason being that Cam Thomas’ defense and passing were determined to be such a weakness, that he was now allowed to even touch the court. Many fans found this reason to be absurd, as all the players mentioned previously were defensive liabilities that did not bring much playmaking. At the end of the 2022-23 season, when Thomas scored 46 points in a loss against the 76ers, instead of praising the then 21 year old, Vaughn went to the media and said the following
Vaughn’s statements created a precedent that was going to be upheld by the fans, regardless of whether or not it was fair. This statement meant that whenever a player had an excellent individual performance, if it resulted in a loss, the fanbase would then hold that player to the same standard when the coach would not.
At the start of the season, it was believed by many including myself that Mikal Bridges was the best player on the team with his 2-way capabilities. However, 70 games into the season, it is clear that Mikal Bridges is not capable of playing on both ends at a high level. He has trouble creating his own advantages and because of the energy spent on offense, he struggles on the defensive end. Normally, this would be fine, as it was unfair to attach these franchise player expectations to Mikal Bridges. The problem is, Mikal Bridges is doing what Cam Thomas did last season, he’s taking bad inefficient shots, playing poor defense, and struggles to play make for others. When Cam Thomas was unable to do these things, he received much vitriol by his own head coach and the fanbase, with many fans attaching the “6th man” label on him, constantly advocating for him to come off the bench and play limited minutes.
Throughout this entire season, Cam Thomas has been scapegoated for the Nets failures, when the Nets starting unit of Dinwiddie-Thomas-Bridges-Johnson-Claxton were struggling, instead of benching Dinwiddie, Johnson, or Bridges, they benched their leading scorer, essentially blaming him for the lineups failures. Ironically, the Nets would then proceed to go 2-11 in their next 13 games with Thomas coming off the bench. When Cam Thomas sprained his ankle against the Grizzlies in late February, the Nets would then proceed to blowout the Hawks without Trae Young. After this, many fans and some media members would then proceed to push out the narrative that Cam Thomas was the reason why the Nets were losing, once again demanding he come off the bench. Fans were confident that Thomas was the reason why the Nets were bad, only for the Mikal Bridges led Nets to lose in humiliating fashion to the Memphis Grizzlies, a team that was missing 9-10 rotation players.
When you vilify and treat one player unfairly, the fanbase will then hold everyone to that same standard, for those of you who are wondering why Mikal Bridges is getting the wrath and ire of this fanbase, it is because Cam Thomas has received the same anger and hatred since last season. Regardless of whether or not you believe it to be fair or mature, hate is contagious, do not be surprised when fans do the same thing to other players on the team.
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