{"id":73907,"date":"2024-04-18T14:23:30","date_gmt":"2024-04-18T18:23:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=73907"},"modified":"2024-04-20T00:13:05","modified_gmt":"2024-04-20T04:13:05","slug":"nic-claxton-linked-to-two-western-conference-teams-new-orleans-pelicans-memphis-grizzlies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/18\/nic-claxton-linked-to-two-western-conference-teams-new-orleans-pelicans-memphis-grizzlies\/","title":{"rendered":"Nic Claxton Linked to Two Western Conference Teams"},"content":{"rendered":"

Heading into his first career unrestricted free agency period, Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton<\/a> is excited to begin the process<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s exciting, for me at least,\u201d Claxton said. \u201cI know everybody\u2019s situation is different, but for me personally, it\u2019s fun, it\u2019s exciting, the unknown of everything.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Although the Nets reportedly want to bring him back<\/a>, the 25-year-old is already being linked to two teams. According to HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto, the Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans are two teams to monitor this summer. However, Scotto clarifies he is “not sure yet how high the Grizzlies are on Claxton<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Two teams with the ability to make a sign-and-trade agreement potentially happen are the Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Pelicans. I know there are members of the Pelicans organization who like Claxton, and the future of Jonas Valanciunas<\/a> is uncertain, given how close the team will be to the luxury tax next season and his lack of usage at the end of the games, including the Play-In loss to the Lakers. I know Grizzlies fans have been in my mentions and quote tweeting my Claxton video where he talked about being an unrestricted free agent, but I\u2019m not sure yet how high the Grizzlies are on Claxton.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In his fifth season with the Nets, Claxton played and started 71 games. On the season, he averaged 11.8 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, and 2.1 blocks per game. Furthermore, Claxton shot 62.9% from the field.<\/p>\n

Nic Claxton Linked to Two Western Conference Teams<\/h2>\n

Claxton Returning to Brooklyn Is “Over 50 Percent” Likely<\/h3>\n

Because of the team having his bird rights, the Nets can pay Claxton<\/a> more than any other team can, in theory. In the sitdown with Scotto, Nets beat writer Brian Lewis talked about the odds of Claxton re-signing with the Nets. According to Lewis, he speculates the odds of the big man staying put are “over 50 percent.” Lewis mentions that Claxton told him directly last year he wanted to stay with the team. Furthermore, Lewis directly said the Nets “want him back.”<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re asking me over or under 50 percent if Claxton is back, I think it\u2019s over 50 percent. I think the Nets have been fully aware that they were going to be staring down the barrel of his unrestricted free agency and have been preparing for it for some time. I\u2019d go as far as saying they\u2019ve been fretting over it because they\u2019ve had to carve out the money for this. They want him back.<\/p>\n

As far as Claxton, he told me last year that he wants to be back.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Nets are unlikely to contend anytime soon, but Claxton is an important part of their current core. He has improved every year he has been in the league and can still grow as a player. Losing Claxton would be a big blow to the Nets roster.<\/p>\n

The Last Word<\/h3>\n

Claxton is an intriguing young big man. He is a good contributor on both sides of the court and is still just 25 years old. Though his offensive game is still limited, he would still fit in very well with the New Orleans Pelicans or Memphis Grizzlies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Heading into his first career unrestricted free agency period, Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton is excited to begin the process. \u201cI think it\u2019s exciting, for me at least,\u201d Claxton said. \u201cI know everybody\u2019s situation is different, but for me personally, it\u2019s fun, it\u2019s exciting, the unknown of everything.\u201d Although the Nets reportedly want to bring […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4631,"featured_media":73913,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,6,2,32,62,33,3],"tags":[49059,167,4581,2357],"class_list":["post-73907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nets","category-featured","category-grizzlies","category-nba","category-pelicans","category-news","tag-2024-nba-free-agents","tag-jonas-valanciunas","tag-nic-claxton","tag-nicolas-claxton"],"modified_by":"Elie Deglaoui","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73907","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4631"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73907"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73907\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73907"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73907"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73907"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}