DALLAS — There are supporters at every level of the Nets organization that had wanted to see Cam Thomas get more minutes over his first two seasons.

The gifted young guard may not be giving Brooklyn coach Jacque Vaughn a choice in his third.

Thomas followed up a solid summer with a strong training camp, and an even better regular season opener. He poured in 36 points in Brooklyn’s gut-wrenching 114-113 loss to Cleveland, the highest-scoring output on either of the NBA’s first two nights.

Coming into Friday’s tilt in Dallas, the only players who had tallied more points this season were former teammate/mentor Kevin Durant and Damian Lillard. Of course, the 22-year-old has always been gifted when it comes to scoring on people.

“Yeah, huge. I mean, he’s been able to do that his whole life; he’s a scorer,” said Ben Simmons, who, like Thomas, starred at LSU. “I think he’s just learning to read the game a little bit differently and pacing himself and still making good reads.”

Oh, Thomas has been paced. Just how much has been a topic of significant discussion.

Thomas’ impressive game against the Cavaliers represented the most points scored in a season opener off the bench since the league began tracking starters in 1970-71.

Note the off the bench part.

Vaughn has doled out his playing time sparingly, pointing to things like his lack of playmaking, questionable defense and iso-first game that either would’ve been redundant on a team with Durant and Kyrie Irving or might clash with the egalitarian motion style the Nets are going to try to play now in the wake of their All-Stars’ departures.

Thomas has proven he can score. He’s done nothing but his whole basketball-playing life. He’s the all-time leading scorer at Oak Hill (2,219 points), a prep power that produced Carmelo Anthony, Jerry Stackhouse and Rod Strickland.

Then he dominated the Las Vegas Summer League not once, but twice, winning Co-MVP and leading it in scoring as a rookie, and returning to top it in total points before last season.

But once the games counted for real, he was relegated to being shunted in and out of the rotation. He had four 40-point outings — including becoming the youngest player in NBA history to register 40-plus points in three straight games — but couldn’t garner consistent playing time despite having support at every level of the Nets organization.

Those voices could be even louder now.

“Need it,” Mikal Bridges said. “I mean, that’s his job: Come off the bench and bring instant offense.

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“Defensively, he’s been playing hard, being in the right spots, so that was a big thing for him to learn. But that’s what he’s supposed to do off the bench. He’s supposed to lead that bench in scoring and provide offense. … then teams overhelp and find other guys. That’s what he’s supposed to do. He can score the hell out of the ball.”

The way he’s started off this season — on an offensively-challenged team that could use all the scoring it can get behind primary option Bridges — bodes well.

It was already a forgone conclusion that Brooklyn would pick up Thomas’ option. It was just coincidence that it happened the day after his big game.

The Nets exercised the fourth-year options on both Thomas and backup center Day’Ron Sharpe, retaining both through 2024-25 at $4 million that season.

For many rookies, Year 3 is a pivotal campaign, seen as crucial. Thomas’ has started off well.

“It felt good, obviously,” Thomas said after his opening night scoring explosion. “You know, obviously, you want to win, but it’s good to always reflect on what you do well. … it’s a good thing to do [in the] first game of the year. But I’ve just got to keep building on it. It was only one game. I’m big on consistency. So I’m going to just flush this and get on with the next game.”

The next game was Friday in Dallas, against former mentor Irving, who was outscored by Thomas 30-17 but walked away with the win, and likely had some words of advice for his onetime teammate.

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Brooklyn’s gifted young scorer has already picked the brain of one of the game’s most accomplished scorers, and is ready to put those lessons to use if given a chance.

“Yeah, definitely my rookie year at training camp, he was taking me under his wing a little bit,” Thomas said of Irving. “But then once the season actually started we really, really got going. Like, we really became family, me, him and K. So, you know, at the end of day it’s more than basketball.

“He was always supportive of me. When I wasn’t in the rotation, he always talked to me. It was just brother vibes, playing the game together. We were just always like, just like a little big brother-little brother time thing. So, to me, it’s just more than basketball.”

For Thomas, efficiency has been an issue. But in his impressive opening performance against a stout Cleveland defense he shot 13-of-21 from the floor and 2-of-5 from 3-point range. As always, he found his way to the charity stripe, going eight-of-11 from the line in 25 minutes.

“Everything was positive,” Thomas said before Friday’s game in Dallas. “We did a lot of good things. Obviously, a lot of [things to] clean up as well — it was the first game — but everything was positive.”

He continued his hot shooting on Friday, going 12-of-19 from the floor against the Mavs and a perfect 5-for-5 from the line.

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“We’ve just got to stick to our principles, what we learned in training camp, and just keep defending, because that’s what our team is built to do: Defend. So we’ve just got to stick to our principles and do this and everything will be fine.”

Want to catch a game? The Nets schedule with links to buy tickets can be found here.

Brooklyn fans have clamored for Thomas to get more playing time. While Vaughn held everybody but Bridges under 29 minutes in the opener, Thomas logged a modest 25:08.

“If you watched that thing, he was tired after that stretch we had put him in before,” Vaughn said. “So then I went offense-defense with he and Nic [Claxton]. But the way he shook my hand coming out of the game after that stretch that we had given him, I thought the minutes overall were where they needed to be.

“Probably a little bit more than Mikal, but besides that, that was the plan going into it. Our guys won’t be 30-plus a lot because of the fact that we have to play extremely hard and I don’t want them coasting. So I do want them tired when I check them out of the game. That is going to be the goal for us, and let’s see if it works.”

For it to work, Spencer Dinwiddie may have to play better, or Thomas may have to play more.

The veteran started at shooting guard, off the ball with Simmons running the point. Dinwiddie struggled with just five points, three assists and finishing a minus-10.

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For his part, Thomas admitted to being a little winded but says he could’ve gone longer if Vaughn had needed — and can go longer in the future.

“I was good,” Thomas said. “Obviously, it’s a little tiring. It’s common playing that much, and scoring as much as I did, you’re going to be tired. My wind was good. … But I’m not really worried about that. As long as I’m on the floor, contributing and helping the team the best way I can, that’s all I care about.”