Are the Brooklyn Nets DESTINED to trade Nic Claxton and Cam Thomas this season? | NBA trade rumors

Are the Brooklyn Nets DESTINED to trade Nic Claxton and Cam Thomas this season? | NBA trade rumors

Coming up, three Nets players have a strong chance of being traded this coming season. I’ll tell you who they are and whether I feel they’ll ultimately be on the move after this. [Music] You are Locked on Nets, your daily Brooklyn Nets podcast, part of the Locked On podcast network. Your team every day. Welcome in to the Locked On Nets podcast. right here on the Locked On podcast network. It’s your team, the Brooklyn Nets. I’m Eric Slater, Brooklyn Nets beat reporter for clutchpoints.com. Thank you for making me your first listen of the day. The show is 100% free on all those great platforms. On today’s show, I’m going to be outlining the three most likely Nets players to be traded this coming season. I’ll detail why their futures are uncertain and what could ultimately decide whether they remain with the team or are on the move. And getting right into these, the top three guys in no particular order, not going from most likely to least likey or vice versa. But I’m going to start off with the player who I think has most frequently been involved in trade rumors over the last season, and that is Nick Claxton, the Net’s longest tenure player entering his seventh NBA season, which is just crazy. Makes me feel old. also is obviously the unquestioned starter for this Nets team. But obviously with the Nets going in a new direction over the last two years and really confirming this off season, they are committed to a rebuild by making five first round selections. Obviously, these star trade rumors, they’re still in the background, but were sort of dispelled with the honest and tenno committing to Milwaukee for at least the start of the year. The Nets are in a rebuild. It’s a full rebuild. They are committed to it. And with Nick Claxton, I think that really alters the way that you have to look at his situation because while he still is young, this is a player who’s going to be 27 this coming season. He’s entering the heart of his prime and, you know, getting towards the latter stage of his career. He’s definitely a veteran at this point. And I’m just not sure how much sense it makes for him to be on this Net’s roster for much longer. You look at the depth chart at center and what they have now. They obviously have Dron Sharp behind him, a player who was really nipping at his heels last season and had a great year. I mean, Dron broke out in a lot of areas. I think that it was the best defensive season of his career offensively. It left something to be desired, but I think he really proved why he can be a rotation caliber big man in the NBA. And with the Nets, you know, you can make the argument obviously that Don Sharp is not a starting center at this point in his career and maybe he’ll never reach there. But with the Nets this coming season, it’s obviously a tanking agenda. They’re a team that’s trying to maximize their draft lottery position. And with that, having Nick Claxton, who is probably a top 20 center in the NBA, I think a lot of people would argue, and then having Dron Sharp behind him as a really, you know, quality big, quality backup big man, that doesn’t necessarily make the most sense for a team that’s trying to lose. Now, do I think that those two guys are going to just elevate this this team to a point where they’re winning so many more games than they should be and that it’s ultimately detrimental to their tank? Maybe not, but it’s definitely not going to help. So, at this point, you look at Nick Claxton, you look at his situation, he has three years left on his contract. He’s making around 25 million this year and then it’s descending in the final two years with also the salary cap is going to be rising in those two years. So his cap hit percent percentage is going down to 13% in the next the season after this coming season and then 11% in the final year of his contract. So that contract in the back end could look attractive to some teams. So I do think that there will be a market for Nick Claxton. I just think the question is going to be is it going to be this season or is it going to be after that and maybe in the final two years of his contract. And when you’re looking at what Nick has done during his Nets tenure, he obviously broke out during that 2022 23 season. looked like a defensive player of the year candidate, led the league in field goal percentage and it looked like he was really going to make a leap into being, you know, a maybe a top 10 big man in the NBA and really in that conversation for the foreseeable future. And over the last two seasons as the Nets have kind of, you know, transitioned further into a rebuild and gone further away from the KD Kyrie, the starstudded era and contention into a rebuild and then a tank and into the NBA’s basement. Nick has kind of followed that. Now, has he fallen as far as the Nets have fallen as a team from where he was at his best? No. But I would say that his production has taken a significant step down. And I think that it’s tough when you’re playing on a tanking team. It’s tough when you take away a lot of the structure. You take away obviously the high level shot creation and some of those things that benefited him. But even on the defensive end, I think that a lot has, you know, there’s been a lot to be desired compared to what we saw at his peak and what he was capable of during these last two seasons. And part of that might be injuries. He was obviously battling a back injury last season. He didn’t look like himself in terms of the motor, in terms of the explosiveness and all of that throughout the year. There were flashes, but it was nowhere near as consistent as it was during that 2022 23 season. And Nick said that he is going to use this off seasonason to get healthy. So, I think it could be a situation if Nick comes out out of the gate and he looks revitalized and rejuvenated and he has a good first half of the season. I do think that there will be a market for Nick Claxton, especially with him having that descending contract, I do think that that is going to be attracted to a lot of teams. And if the Nets are in a position in a tanking season where they can, you know, cash in on Nick Claxton’s value if he rehabilitates it somewhat during the beginning of the year, if they can get some value for him in a trade and they can also increase their chances of finishing at the top of the draft lottery standards because they’re taking away their starting center, I think that those are their two, you know, main priorities this coming year. It’s still asset accumulation mode. It’s player development and it’s also increasing their, you know, odds of landing a top draft pick. And by trading Nick Claxton, you could check all of those boxes. You could recoup more assets and add to a league leading draft stash. You could aid player development by giving Dron Sharp, Danny Wolf, other guys in the front court more opportunities. And obviously, you could aid your tank in all of that by, you know, taking away a starting caliber piece and, you know, making the team less confident on the court from a night-to-ight basis. So, those are all the reasons why I think that a Nick Claxton trade could be on the horizon. If we’re talking about where is he going to go, I think there’s definitely a few teams that could be candidates. Like I just did my Fan Take Friday episode last week and I got a couple of questions about the Charlotte Hornets. Could they be a potential uh destination for Nick Claxton? And I definitely think that it’s possible because if you look at their depth chart, they’re a team that’s perceivably trying to take a step forward this season and obviously the season after and beyond and you look at their centers, they have Musa Diabate and they have Mason Plumbley as their two rotation centers right now. I don’t think obviously that is that’s probably the worst center room in the league right now. We’re in contention with some of the teams that I’ll talk about after the Hornets, but if they’re looking to, you know, add a lob threat alongside LaMelo Ball, they’re looking to bolster this roster and truly take a step forward. I could see them having interest in Nick Claxton. They also have expiring contracts in Pat Conetan, Colin Ston. So, there’s a deal there that could definitely make sense for me. It would just be a question of are the Hornets actually trying to take a step forward this season? Are they trying to go all in on making a push towards the playin or potentially even the playoffs? And if they are, then a trade for Nick Claxton makes sense. If they’re kind of in that one foot in, one foot out, let’s, you know, faint maybe trying to improve this year, but really stay in this tank race and try to get another top pick in what is going to be a loaded 2026 draft at the top. Then a trade for Nick Claxton obviously wouldn’t make sense. The Hornets are definitely a possibility. I would also say the Boston Celtics, you know, you look at them and obviously they’re a team that is, you know, kind of taking a transitional gap here right now with Jason Tatum, you know, tearing his Achilles and being out for the whole year. They’re probably a team that’s still going to try to compete, but also it would benefit them to maybe lose some games and improve their draft pick given this is not going to be a year that they’re contending for a championship. But you look at their starting center rotation right now with Al Horford probably being out the door. You look at obviously Christophs Porzingis going to the Atlanta Hawks. The Celtics starting centers right now are Chris Buchet and Neimus Kada and that obviously is not a NBA caliber starting rotation. So I as I said they probably don’t want to be good this season, but they’re going to need to find a starting caliber big man for the following season in 2026 27 to pair with Jason Tatum and Jaylen Brown and Derek White and whoever they have left there as they still try to compete around those guys and contend. You look at Nick Claxton, there could be a deal there because you look at a guy like Anthony Simons who they just got in a salary dump, he’s making 27.7 million this coming season. He’s expiring. You look at Nick Claxton, he’s making 25.3 million. So right there you have a Simons for Claxton swap potentially that could, you know, allow the Celtics to parlay Simons into something that they have, you know, a player that they’re potentially it doesn’t seem like they’re that interested in keeping long term. parlaying that into Nick Claxton who could be a starting big man of the future alongside Jaylen Brown and uh Jason Tatum and then obviously whatever draft capital they give up alongside Anthony Simon’s contract to make that happen. The Celtics do have first round picks. They have their own, you know, going forward, you know, into 2030 and 2031. They have their own picks. They have second round picks. So potentially that could be a deal I think that could make sense because if you take away Simons, you’re taking away some of the ball handling. I do think that that, you know, like assignments for Claxton swap wouldn’t hurt them them potentially, you know, make them that much better and potentially hurt their draft pick this coming season. So maybe there’s something at the deadline where those two teams can swap th those two things. The Nets get some draft assets, they get an expiring contract and they get off Claxton and the Celtics get a starting caliber center of the future. I think that could make sense. Another team, the Indiana Pacers, who obviously just lost Miles Turner to the Milwaukee Bucks. You look at them right now. They’re in the similar situation to the Celtics because Tyresese Hallebert and Torres Achilles. They have this gap year coming up. They um you know traded their draft pick. Uh they just got their draft pick back from the New Orleans Pelicans. They’re another team that you know I think they’ll still try to compete, but it wouldn’t benefit them necessarily to try to go all in on trying to be as good as possible when they have their own draft pick back. But their starting centers right now are Isaiah Jackson and James Huff. So good players, nothing great. Like I don’t think starting caliber in today’s NBA the money matching with them is a lot difficult because they really don’t have the aspirings. They have these guys who are making um you know mid-level midsize contracts like uh Benedict Matin, Obie Topphen, TJ McConnell. Those guys were really core pieces to the finals run last year. So would they want to give any of them up? Probably not. But you know they do need a starting center. It might be a little bit more difficult to figure out them. But they’re another team that I could see there. That’s why, you know, ultimately I think Nick Claxton is a guy who I think will be on the trade block during the come coming season and beyond if he doesn’t ultimately get moved. But he is one of the top guys who I think that you would be looking at just based off of timeline, based off of him having value to some other teams and based on what the Net’s objectives and goals are this coming season. We got two more guys who I think are likely trade candidates for the Nets. So, I’ll get into that, who they are, why I think they potentially be on the move, all that after a quick break. But before that, want to tell you about our friends over at FanDuel. The NFL season is almost here, and FanDuel is making sure you’re ready for kickoff with a can’tmiss offer. Right now, new customers can bet just $5. 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A name that has dominated the Nets off season with a lot of uncertainty and obviously a player who remains without a contract. Um, as we turn the page to September and recording this on September 1st, we have no clarification on Cam Thomas’ future right now. He remains unsigned and restricted free agency. And I think all of that uncertainty, while I think, you know, I think that he’s going to be back this coming season, but I think all of this uncertainty adds to the likelihood that he could be on the move um during the coming year. And obviously, a lot of that is going to depend on how this free agency unfolds. You know, we’ve heard a lot over the last month about the Nets and Cam having a wide gap in terms of where they are in negotiations. We’ve heard that Cam wants, you know, starting caliber shooting guard money, whether that be, you know, like approaching $30 million. We’ve heard about comparisons to guys like Jaylen Green, Jordan Pool, Emanuel Quickley, RJ Barrett, whoever you want to say. All those guys making that type of money. And the market just hasn’t been there for Cam Thomas obviously because no other team besides the Nets has cap space. The Nets don’t seem to be bidding against themselves. They don’t seem to value Cam at that price point. And we’ve heard from Jake Fischer. He said that the Net’s offer hasn’t exceeded a two-year deal at the non- taxpayer mid-level exception, which is $14 million, uh, with a team option in the second year. So, Cam has two decisions right now. He can either take the Nets offer, whatever that is. Maybe it gets tweaked and revised, or he could sign his one-year $6 million qualifying offer, play out this season, become an unrestricted free agent next year, would also have trade veto rights uh during this coming season if he signs that QO. Ultimately, I think in either scenario, I think he would be a trade candidate during the coming season. Now, my placing him as one of the top three most likely Nets players to be traded is based on a calculated guess and the possibility that he could sign the qualifying offer because what we’ve heard from Cam, what we’ve heard about Cam up to this point, as I said, they’re wide apart and we’ve heard other reporting that he is seriously consign seriously considering signing that qualifying offer. Now, we’ll see. Is that a leverage play to try to get the Nets to increase their offer because it wouldn’t be good for him then to lose him as an asset if he signs that QO potentially? But I do think that with where Cam is at, he would be seriously considering signing that QO. Now, would I advise him to do that? No. But I definitely think it’s in the cards. Would I say it’s the most likely outcome? No. Because, you know, if he’s getting an offer at $14 million, the Qo was 6 million. That’s an $8 million gap. So, he would have to get a contract starting at $22 million the season after this coming season. just to make up that difference. And is he going to get that? I think the jury is very much still out on that. So, I do I think I think it’s more likely that Cam takes the net short-term offer as opposed to signing the QO, but I do think that, you know, I’d say maybe there’s like a 30% chance there’s something in that range that he could sign the qualifying offer. So with that, if he does sign the qualifying offer there, I think he immediately becomes a trade candidate during the coming season because we’ve seen when players sign the qualifying offer restricted free agents, it is a signal of, you know, the end of their the beginning of the end of their time. That player almost never resigns with the team. They become become an unrestricted free agent the following off season and they are destined to leave and try to get their money and get the role that they want somewhere else. So if Cam signs that, it’s a signal that he’s, you know, looking to leave an unrestricted free agency. At that point, he’s in its firing contract and it would make sense for the Nets to try to cash in on his value. Now, he does have trade veto rights, which limits their leverage in negotiations because if it’s a team that Cam doesn’t want to go to, he’s obviously not going to agree to the trade. But with the Nets, you know, not giving him the deal he wants with him signing the QO with him signaling that he wants to leave anyway, it could behoove him to get to a place where he might have a more expansive role. Because if he signs that Qo and the Nets are tanking and he’s going to be leaving potentially an unrestricted free agency the following off season, there really is no reason for them to feature him, add more shot creation, potentially hurt their tank. So him getting traded to a team where he could have a more expansive role in a team that perceivably has some interest in him. That would make sense. So me putting Cam in the top three, you know, players who are mo Nets players who are most likely to be traded is based on the possibility that while I don’t think it’s extremely strong, it’s definitely a a distinct possibility that he could take that qualifying offer, at which point I think he would become a clear trade candidate during the coming year. Now, even if he doesn’t take that qualifying offer and he signs the Net short-term deal and say it’s a two-year, $28 million deal with a team option in the second year, I think in that scenario, he’d still be a trade candidate because you look at what the Nets have said. You look at their actions, none of it really signals that they’re a team that is, you know, really high and all in on making Cam Thomas a part of these long-term plans. I think if they viewed him as a starting caliber guard in their rotation moving forward, they wouldn’t be risking him taking the QO. probably be locking him in at a number, you know, while they wouldn’t have to bid against themselves, they’d be locking him in at a number that is a little bit higher than what they reportedly have offered him. So, you know, at that point, if Cam signs or if Cam gets the deal that has been reported to be on the table by the Nets, they have a team option in the second year. He could, you know, he could go to a team that has interest in him at that $14 million number because while I have, you know, questions about whether he can be a starting caliber guard in the NBA long term, I do think that he could have value obviously as a bench player, he’s still an elite scorer, he’s still really young at 23 years old, he still has an evolving skill set. So, if a team values him at that $14 million price point, I could definitely see the Nets trading him for an expiring and just getting maybe some second round picks or something along those lines. Or because they could potentially have the team option in the second year, he just could be an expiring contract and a team could look to use him. Maybe the Nets get a player who has more long-term money, but they have a little bit more interest in. A team clears some money off their books. There’s just some possibilities even with that, you know, with him taking that short-term deal potentially. There’s possibilities with it being a short-term deal where a trade could still be on the table. And you know, Cam could still be a part of the Net’s long-term plans. We’ll see. But I’m just reading the tea leaves, the breadcrumbs. I’m reading the actions of what the Nets have done up to this point. And none of it really signals to me that he’s a player that they’re prioritizing long term. Because you look at what they did in the draft, they drafted with a really, you know, clear strategy of taking a lot of players who were high level passers, high field players, players who were sizable and had positional versatility, players who obviously like to move the ball and just none of that has really matched up with how Cam Thomas has played. And when Nets make a draft and they make five first round picks and there’s that clear of a theme amongst them, I think you have to read into that as obviously being a play a way that they want to play in, you know, moving forward into the future. And does Cam fit that up to this point in his career? Not really. So that’s the reason why I think Cam Thomas should be on this list of the top three most likely Nets players to be traded this coming season. I think how this free agent situation shakes out, whether he’s back on the Qo or short term short-term deal will ultimately, you know, really impact the likelihood of whether he is traded. But in either scenario, I do think that he will be a trade candidate. We got one more Nets player who made the list of the most likely players to be traded this coming year. Who is that? how they get him, what could they look to cash in on him for? I’ll touch on all that when I close out Lockdown Nets after a quick break. But before that, we have an important request. Lockdown wants to hear from you. We put together a survey to learn more about our listeners and make your favorite podcast even better. This is your chance to tell us what you like, what you don’t, and answer questions about our advertising. Go to lockdownpodcast.com/servey to get started. Everyone who completes the survey will be entered for a chance to win one of 10 $100 Amazon gift cards. Again, that’s lockdownpodcast.com/servey. You can also find the link in the show notes. Thank you all for helping us out. Coming back from the break, closing out today’s Lockdown Nets episode outlining the three most likely Brooklyn Nets players to be traded this coming season. We hit on Nick Claxton and Cam Thomas. And last player, not as notable, but probably the most likely Nets player to be traded this coming season is Haywood Highmith, who the Nets just acquired from the Miami Heat along got a second round pick alongside him in a salary dump move by the Heat. And you look at Highmith, he’s a player who’s on a $5.6 million expiring contract. And I do think that the Nets made this move with the idea that they will be able to flip him down the line, you know, before the trade deadline because you look at Highmith over the last two seasons. He’s been a quality rotation player for a Miami Heat team that was in the playoffs and you look at what he’s done. He’s a 39% three-point shooter over the last two seasons. Looks really confident from there. He’s a good defender, active defender. Even if there was a little bit of a slip this past season, I do think that he’s a rotation caliber 3 and D player. also with playoff experience. He’s played in 35 playoff games. He’s a guy who scored 17 points in a finals game when the Heat were playing Denver that year in 2023. So, I do think that he’s a guy who will have some value. Ultimately, I think that will depend on whether he’s able to get back on the court and be healthy. He had surgery on August 8th for a meniscus tear and I think the Heat said that he was going to be out for 8 to 10 weeks. So, that would put him right up to like the start of the regular season that he’s going to be sidelined. So, I could see him getting on back on the court potentially in November. And if he comes back and if he is a part of the Nets rotation, if he plays well at the beginning of the year, I definitely think that he will have value because he’s not on an exorbitant amount of money. I think that there’s teams that will be easily able to acquire him. Uh Mark Stein, NBA insider, just put out a uh a piece this past week and made a really good point about how highmith’s $5.6 million salary comes in right below the taxpayer mid-level exception. just like a smidge below that. So that means, you know, in the new CBA, teams are able to use the non- taxpayer and taxpayer mid-level exceptions as trade exceptions. So you used to be able to just sign guys in free agency using that, you can now absorb trade, you know, absorb players in trades into that space. So with it being right below the taxpayer mid-le exception high Smith salary, a team could, you know, acquire him without sending any salary back like uh Stein used the Philadelphia 76ers as an example of a team that could have interest in him, you know, looking to contend, have a little bit of room below the aprons and things along those lines and could bring him in while maybe just giving up a second round pick and not having to send back any salary in return. So I do think that that makes it much more likely that he’s going to be traded. And then you look at even beyond that, just matching a $5.6 $6 million salary. It’s not that difficult. You trade one low-level guy, you trade a couple minimum guys, and you could get a player like Highmith probably on the cheap. Now, do I think the Nets are going to get anything, you know, absorbent for him like a first round pick? No. But I do think that they, you know, if he comes back and if he looks healthy and if he performs decently, I think they should be able to get a second rounder or something along those lines for a player who should factor into a lot of rotations for teams that are trying to be in the playoffs or at least would be a very high level depth piece. So Haywood Highmith, another player that I would be on the lookout for as a trade candidate, a guy I think it was a really savvy move for the Nets to take him into their cap space to get an unprotected 2030 second round pick from the Miami Heat. Who knows what that pick’s going to be? And I do think that there would be a good chance that the Nets will be able to flip him because the Heat only gave up Heismith because they needed to uh they needed to clear room below the luxury tax. They still had multiple roster spots that they had to fill below that. they got off of him, you know, and they could have waited until the trade deadline to potentially try to get positive value on Highmith, but all the reporting has been that the Nets were the only team with cap space at this point. They said that they had other plans if the Heat didn’t agree to the deal. And because of that, the Heat didn’t want to risk going into the trade deadline and maybe not being able to get off of him. So, the Nets take advantage of that and they get a player who I do think there is potential for them to be able to flip down the line and add to their league leading, you know, draft picks. Nets have 31 draft picks over the next se next seven years. Uh 12 first round picks, 19 second round picks, and then I think they could add another one to that if they’re able to flip down the line. So those are the three most likely Nets players to be traded this coming season. I do have a couple of honorable mentions. I would put Michael Porter Jr. in there, who the Nets obviously acquired in that trade for Cam Johnson uh this earlier this summer, but I didn’t put him in the top three because he still is making 38 $39 million this coming season. I do think it would be difficult for a lot of teams to match that money and I do think if he’s going to be a trade candidate it would be probably the following season when he’s an expiring a $40 million expiring but he could be traded this coming year maybe a team likes him or maybe there’s a deal for a star on the table and that’s just some crazy pivot happens but I do think when he’s an expiring it would be much more likely that he’s moved another guy Terrence man a veteran who doesn’t necessarily fit the Net’s timeline but I didn’t put him in this top three because the Nets just got him in a salary dump and he’s entering during the first year of a threeyear $48 million contract. So, I think that he would have to play well, rehabilitate his value, get deeper into that deal before teams would consider him as a serious trade candidate. But that does it for this episode of Locked on Nets. Hope you guys enjoyed it outlining some potential moves that we could see down the line. If you guys do not already, make sure to subscribe to Locked on Nets on YouTube or wherever you get your podcast, whether Apple Podcast or Spotify. If you have a second and you enjoy the content, smash that like button, leave a comment, let me know what you think about these guys as trade candidates or any other guys that you think that I missed. It only takes a second and I really appreciate it. Helps the algorithm a lot. But we flipped the calendar to September. We’re moving on through. We’re getting towards training camp. We’re going to have a lot more Nets talk. So, I’ll hit on all that when I’m back tomorrow talking more Brooklyn Nets basketball.

Erik Slater outlines why Nic Claxton and Cam Thomas are among the most likely Brooklyn Nets players to be traded this coming season. He analyzes both players’ uncertain futures and whether he ultimately feels the team will look to move them.

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