Claxton remains top priority for Nets

Unrestricted free-agent center should stay in Brooklyn

May 9, 2024 John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle

Brooklyn's Nic Claxton will be one of the more coveted free-agent centers this summer, making him a "priority" for the Nets to bring back. AP Photo by Peter K. Afriyie

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Jordi Fernandez has high hopes for Nic Claxton next season and beyond.

But first, Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks has to re-sign the unrestricted free agent center for his new head coach.

That deal appears to be more of a likelihood than a question mark as the summer approaches.

With free agency looming after June 30, the Nets, who finished out of the playoffs for the first time in six years this season, are making Claxton’s return their top “priority,” according to Marks.

“I think Nic is the number one priority for us,” Marks intimated shortly after Brooklyn finished 32-50 and went through former head coach Jacque Vaughn and interim Kevin Ollie before bringing in Fernandez. “There’s no doubt about that,”

Fernandez, who is settling into his new position and preparing to coach Team Canada at the Paris Olympics, came here after two years as Mike Brown’s top associate in Sacramento, where the Kings went from 30-52 to back-to-back playoff appearances following his arrival.

The 41-year-old native of Baradona, Spain knows his best chance of orchestrating a quick turnaround in Brooklyn is keeping Claxton in place.

“I believe he’ll be Defensive Player of the Year,” Fernandez said at his introductory press conference at the team’s HSS Training Center in Industry City last month.

Claxton finished tied for sixth in the NBA with 2.1 blocked shots per game. He also averaged 11.8 points and 9.9 rebounds per contest.

The 6-foot-11 former second-round pick ranked fifth in the league in field-goal percentage at nearly 63%.

Nets coach Jordi Fernandez is hoping Brooklyn general manager brings back center Nic Claxton as a free agent this summer. AP Photo by David Zalubowski

All of those numbers, combined with his ever-improving skills in every offensive and defensive category, would make him a commodity on virtually every team in the league.

But Fernandez and Marks agree that Claxton’s original NBA home since he was picked out of Georgia with the 31st overall selection in 2019 is right on the corner of Atlantic and Flatbush.

“For us, he’s a priority in this summer,” Fernandez reiterated.

“And the way we can play through him — obviously he’s great in pick-and-roll, he’s quick to the rim, he puts pressure on the rim — but also his ability to play the dribble-handoff game, which, as you guys know, lately in the NBA is a style that is very efficient.”

The 25-year-old Claxton may be worth up to $25 million per year this summer, a number Marks is obviously willing to fork over, as evidenced by his commitment to bring him back in the regular season’s aftermath.

“We hope (Claxton’s) a Net for a very long time,” Brooklyn’s GM said. “We hope we can continue to build around him, and build with him, and so forth.”

Before the Nets made Fernandez’s hiring official, Claxton weighed in on what he’d want from the franchise’s next coach.

“I just want transparency. Somebody that’s going to keep it real with me, look at me as a man,” he said.

Cam Thomas, the Nets’ leading scorer last season, is eligible for an extension this summer, something he and Marks will likely iron out following the best of the shooting guard’s first three seasons in our borough.

Thomas averaged 22.5 points per game while starting 51 of the 66 contests he participated in.

The 22-year-old Louisiana State alum paced the Nets in scoring in each of their final 10 contests, including a 41-point effort against the arch-rival New York Knicks in Brooklyn’s penultimate game.

Thomas wasted no time addressing his desire to remain a Net following the season.

“I love it here. I got drafted here, so I’ll always have a place for it,” he noted. “I never really had doubts about playing here.”

Claxton will likely say the same as soon as owner Joe Tsai and Marks give him the contract he’s earned this summer.

Indiana’s Caitlin Clark, the first overall pick in last month’s WNBA Draft at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, will visit Barclays Center on May 18. AP Photo by Adam Hunger

NOTHING BUT NET: Fernandez led Team Canada to its first-ever medal, a bronze, in men’s basketball last summer at the FIBA World Cup. Now, he’s hoping to help the national team to the podium at the Paris Olympics, beginning with Team Canada’s opening game on July 27. … The Liberty, the Nets’ co-tenants at Barclays Center, will meet the Connecticut Sun at Mohegan Sun Arena Thursday night at 7 p.m. in their exhibition finale. New York was trounced, 101-53, in its preseason opener Tuesday night in Chicago. The Liberty will open their regular season next Tuesday in Washington D.C. before traveling to Indiana on Thursday to meet Caitlin Clark and the Fever. The NCAA phenom and first overall pick in this year’s WNBA Draft will make her New York debut in the Liberty’s home opener at Barclays Center on May 18 at 1 p.m.