Brooklyn Nets sign Lance Thomas as Substitute Player

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The Brooklyn Nets announced Tuesday afternoon that they have signed forward Lance Thomas as a Substitute Player for the remainder of the 2019-20 season.

From the Nets’ release on Thomas:

Thomas (6’8”, 235) has seen action in 392 career games (124 starts) across eight NBA seasons with New Orleans (2011-13), Oklahoma City (2014-15) and New York (2015-19), recording averages of 5.2 points and 2.6 rebounds in 18.4 minutes per game. The 32-year-old last suited up with an NBA team with the Nets in the 2019 preseason, appearing in one game prior to being waived on Oct. 18.
Thomas went undrafted in 2010 after a four-year (2006-10) collegiate career at Duke, where he earned ACC All-Defensive Team honors as a senior while helping the Blue Devils capture the 2010 NCAA National Championship.

Thomas’ addition gives the Nets 20 players currently under some form of contract, although they will be without seven of those players in Orlando: Spencer Dinwiddie, Taurean Prince, and DeAndre Jordan are all out due to coronavirus; Wilson Chandler has opted out due to COVID-19 concerns; and Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Nicolas Claxton are all injured and will not play the rest of the season.

To help cover for those losses, the team has signed Jamal Crawford, Michael Beasley, Donta Hall, and now Thomas as Substitutes, and waived Theo Pinson to make room to sign Tyler Johnson, but news broke just after the Thomas signing was announced that Beasley has tested positive for coronavirus, and his status is in question as he has left the NBA's Orlando bubble.

The team also reportedly has Justin Anderson, who spent time with the Nets and their Long Island G League affiliate, in quarantine with them, which may be fruitful if the team needs to add another replacement to replace the replacement Beasley. 

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