[Heavy] Rival Exec Dishes on Nets’ Breakout Star: ‘He Is Not Untouchable’

>The most pressing issue facing the Brooklyn Nets may be what to do with Nic Claxton.
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>He is coming off a breakout campaign that saw him average career-highs across the board with 12.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.5 blocks, and 1.9 assists. He led the league in field goal percentage, finished tied for second in blocks per game, and, at just 24 years old, there is reason to believe he still has room to grow for the former No. 31 over pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
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>The Nets are keeping an open mind in the final year of his two-year, $17.2 million contract, per a rival general manager speaking with Heavy Sports NBA insider Sean Deveney.
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>“They would move off of him if the right deal came around, sure. He is not untouchable or anything like that,” the GM tells Heavy Sports. “If they could get an upgrade, they’d move on from him. He has a good amount of value around the league.”
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>Claxton’s name came up at the trade deadline in rumored discussions with the Toronto Raptors.
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>“They’re talking to the Nets and…they have been adamant about getting Nic Claxton back in any kind of deal with Brooklyn,” reported Ian Begley on SportsNet New York’s ‘The Putback’ podcast on February 8. “They’re playing hardball with Brooklyn and you’d expect them to. They don’t have to trade OG Anunoby. They don’t have to trade Pascal Siakam.
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>Claxton finished just outside of the top 10 in the voting for Defensive Player of the Year and joined teammate Mikal Bridges in the “others receiving votes” category for their respective positions.
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>The peril for Brooklyn could manifest in two ways: they pay him and he regresses or they hold off on paying him and he plays at an even higher level this coming season, driving up the price.

[https://heavy.com/sports/brooklyn-nets/rival-exec-claxton-trade-marks-raptors/](https://heavy.com/sports/brooklyn-nets/rival-exec-claxton-trade-marks-raptors/)