Born in
Charlotte, North Carolina, Thomas played basketball at
Independence High School. He helped lead Independence to the 1997 North Carolina 4A state championship as a junior and was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player. One of the nations top guard recruits, he signed to play college basketball for the
Charlotte 49ers in
Division I NCAA, under
Bobby Lutz. He ended his college career for Charlotte with then records for three-pointers made, games, consecutive games (130) and starts and single-season record for three-pointers (110), plus Conference USA records for career three-pointers made, single-season three-pointers made and single-season three-pointers in league games (60), while averaging 13.4 points per game. He took part in ESPN's Three-Point Shooting Contest on 24 March 2002, and on the 2002 NBA Pre-Draft summer camp in Chicago. After not being drafted, he moved to Europe and joined
Queluz in the
Portuguese Basketball League, playing only 18 games with an average of 24 points per game. He soon joined the
Serie A in Italy, and in a five-year period, Thomas average more than 17 points per game in 163 games, representing three different teams. to play for
Benfica, adding nine titles in two seasons, and competing in the
2014–15 EuroChallenge. On 1 June 2015, the 35-year-old announced his retirement from basketball. ==Honors==