Rockets avoided the Cam Thomas disaster the Nets are now dealing with

Houston Rockets fans did not universally celebrate Jalen Green's contract. After witnessing what's happening with Cam Thomas and the Nets, they may want to be grateful for the front office's acumen.

That will feel counterintuitive to some. Thomas just signed a qualifying offer with the Nets. That's exceedingly rare for a first-round pick. Typically, a team and player come to an agreement, or the player hits restricted free agency.

Not this time. Thomas will play (at least) one more season for the Nets for a grand sum of $6 million - life-changing money for most, but a pittance in NBA terms. After 2025-26, he'll hit unrestricted free agency.

That's good for the Nets, right? The same concepts that dictated that Green wasn't worth a lucrative deal are at play here. The Nets shouldn't break the bank for a low-efficiency volume scorer, right?

Sure - but now, they risk losing Thomas for nothing.

Rockets avoided disaster with Jalen Green

Having signed the qualifying offer, Thomas can be traded this year - but he has Bird rights. He has to agree to a deal.

Perhaps that's a minor obstacle. If a team is acquiring Thomas, they're likely looking to retain him in unrestricted free agency next year. Still, it could pose a problem for Brooklyn.

So could Thomas' meager contract.

To trade for a star, you need to match a star's salary. Say the Nets want to trade Thomas this year - who will be worth targeting at $6 million? The Nets would have to aggregate salary to move Thomas for a significant player, which is always a significant impediment.

Imagine if the Rockets had landed in the same situation? Green would have met the starter criteria for a higher value, but his qualifying offer would have still been (relatively) small. Trading him and Dillon Brooks for Kevin Durant wouldn't have been possible. Houston would have had to include Fred VanVleet in the trade. Trading a winning player in a win-now move is always undesirable.

What will the Nets do?

Nets' situation isn't as dire as Rockets' could have been

Green was the second overall pick. Thomas was picked 27th. These situations are comparable, but different.

Sure, there's sunk cost fallacy at play here. It's easy to identify that when you're not the one sinking the cost. Picking Green second, only to receive nothing in return, would have been devastating for the Rockets. Now, they can frame his tenure as the means by which they acquired Durant.

If the Nets pick Thomas 27th, only to see him go, that's commonplace. It's the expectation for a 27th pick. Thomas has exceeded draft slot expectations with his gaudy scoring numbers, but if the Nets don't feel that he's a long-term piece, that's a moot point.

Rockets fans should just be glad they positioned themselves to receive a return for Green.