Nets: Brooklyn About to Add Right Type of Veteran With Lance Thomas Signing

The Brooklyn Nets are closing in on Lance Thomas.

We mocked the Nets earlier in the week for signing Jamal Crawford and the suspended Michael Beasley in order to fill the cup during their Orlando bubble games. Even with the benefit of hindsight, we’d mock them again.

Crawford, sure. He’s inefficient, but he filled the cup during wonky end-of-season games in 2019, and as long as he let Caris LeVert continue to drive the ship, he could be a worthwhile presence. But Beasley, a hog cut from the same mold who won’t even be available, turned the Nets’ desperate scramble for bodies into an unprofessional pursuit.

Lance Thomas, who Brooklyn is reportedly closing in on a deal with, will do the exact opposite.

Thomas isn’t flashy, by any means. He’s the anti-flash. In many ways, he’s as interesting as a post-it, or a doorstop. But the functionality of those items make them essential.

Thomas is an itchy tag on the back of your shirt — he’s an agitator. And he’s always there.

The sense of stability he imbues left him in the Knicks rotation for arguably too long, but he’ll bring the same contained chaos on defense to Brooklyn. If Thomas is hoisting up shots, something has gone very wrong — that’s for the other wild men on Brooklyn’s patchwork roster.

But this former Knick is what Theo Pinson could’ve been in an ideal scenario. Clearly, Brooklyn wasn’t confident in that happening, and prefers to opt for old reliable, and someone they’re certainly familiar with from his earlier stint in the uniform.

Is this an exciting move? No. If you want to applaud the insane additions of Crawford and the disappearing Beasley, that’s fine. This is an entertainment industry, after all.

But instead of another unhinged option, Thomas makes a ton of sense to round out this roster. His veteran presence will always loom uniquely large, especially in this season unlike any other.