In the modern sports media landscape, athletes have been more willing than ever to hold media members accountable for the criticisms they publicly express. Unfortunately for The Ringer’s Zach Lowe, he felt the wrath of NBA guard Cam Thomas after some critical comments got back to him.
Earlier this week, Lowe discussed several notable restricted free agents that are still unsigned on his podcast, The Zach Lowe Show. When it came to breaking down Thomas, Lowe didn’t mince words when explaining how he believes the Nets player is perceived, detailing how, whether fair or not, the “consensus” around the NBA is that he is an “empty-calories ball hog.”
“What is Cam Thomas, Nekias (Duncan)?” asked Lowe. “What is he? What’s going to happen here? What do we make of this guy who scores in bunches? Who upped his assists significantly last year? Still, I think only a 4.5 per 36 minutes, which given the amount of the time he has the ball is still pretty low, but higher. Flashes some good passing skills, some lobs, some dump-offs. Still had a usage rate of almost 33 percent, which is almost what you would associate with Russell Westbrook, James Harden MVP seasons.
“Defensively, meh. But the dude can put the ball in the basket. And he can make a lot of tough shots. He took more threes and shoots pretty well from three. Look, the consensus on Cam Thomas, if there is one. And he has some fans, and he has some mega-detractors. But the consensus is kind of like, empty-calories ball hog. What do we make of this player?”
An account on X aggregated Lowe’s comments called NBA Retweet, which left out some of the more positive things he had to say about Thomas and only included his comment on Thomas being an “empty-calories ball hog”. And this got back to Thomas, who responded to the NBA Retweet post on Lowe’s comments by going off on the NBA reporter in a profanity-filled rant on X.
“The consenus [sic]? F*** you and the consensus @ZachLowe_NBA,” wrote Thomas. “This is most likely the same consensus teams who can’t guard me and send double teams from jump ball . Why are we double teaming a guy who’s “not that good” make it make sense please.”
Again, Thomas didn’t see some of the more positive elements of what Lowe had to say, an unfortunate side effect when an aggregator doesn’t provide the whole story.
Still, it is understandable for him to be upset about being called a “ball hog.” Especially given the fact that Lowe’s public comments could seemingly harm Thomas at the negotiations table, as he reportedly seeks a deal that would earn him $30 million annually.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.