Nets re-signing Nic Claxton to four-year, $100 million deal with all but $4 million guaranteed
Photo by Nathaniel S. Butler/NBAE via Getty Images
After trading Mikal Bridges and re-acquiring picks in two trades Tuesday, the Nets will retain Nic Claxton The Nets aren’t going into that deep of a rebuild.
Adrian Wojnarowski and Shams Charania reported just before the beginning of the NBA Draft’s first round that the Nets are re-signing Nic Claxton, the homegrown 6’11” big, to a four year, $100 million deal.
Claxton's $100 million deal has been worked on by his agents Rich Beda, Steven Heumann and Aaron Mintz of @CAA_Basketball with the Nets front office, and now he'll return to anchor what'll be a young Brooklyn roster, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/vnv1qrEIJY— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 26, 2024
Nic Claxton is nearing plans to sign a four-year, $100 million deal to return to the Brooklyn Nets, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium. $96 million guaranteed. pic.twitter.com/UNjKFfJAQm— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 26, 2024
Neither Woj nor Shams detailed what incentives the deal might contain or whether the contract will be front-loaded to give the Nets additional flexibility next summer when Brooklyn will likely have more than $50 million in cap space.
Although Brooklyn had no picks entering the draft and made no moves in the first round, they have been the single most active team in the NBA the past two days, making two franchise-altering trades and committing to one of the first $100 million deals of free agency. Only Pascal Siakem, O.G. Anunoby and Bam Adebayo have agreed to bigger deals. As Billy Reinhardt texted, Claxton’s deal is almost certainly the largest ever given a homegrown Nets player.
The signing had been seen as highly likely for months, with Sean Marks repeatedly stating re-signing Claxton was the team’s top off-season priority and Jordi Fernandez describing him as a potential Defensive Player of the Year. Still, the events of the last 24 hours added an element of doubt as fans and pundits alike wondered just how deep that Nets rebuild would go. However, the Nets eliminated that doubt Wednesday. Signing Claxton signaled that Brooklyn intends to keep some of its young talent intact and may indicate the front office sees the rebuild as short-term.
Claxton confirmed Woj and Shams’ tweets with an Instagram post of his own...
More than one fan wondered if the image, with the Brooklyn Bridge prominent and Manhattan in the background, was a diss of Mikal Bridges who by most accounts asked out of the borough to play with the city team.
Yossi Gozlan of CapSheets.com added his analysis of what Claxton’s deal could look like...
Here is the projection I'll be using for Nicolas Claxton's contract until we get confirmation on the exact deal and terms.The second-year decline allows the Brooklyn Nets to get a little more 2025 cap space.They structured Cameron Johnson's deal from last summer similarly. pic.twitter.com/GEY4DxLTcd— Yossi Gozlan (@YossiGozlan) June 26, 2024
Claxton, 25, averaged almost a double double — 11.8 points and 9.9 rebounds as well as 2.1 blocis — last season, playing in 70 games, the second straight year he passed that milestone after playing in only 94 games his first three. For Claxton, it was a show of faith in Brooklyn, rebuild or not.
Drafted with the 31st pick in 2019, Claxton is the second big man Marks selected that went onto sign for $100+ million when his rookie deal was up. The other was Jarrett Allen, who was traded to Cleveland, and then signed a big deal. The deal is also in line with other young bigs.
At the end of last season, Claxton expressed his desire to stay ... and his disappointment with the Nets’ 32-50 record.
“Brooklyn has really grown on me as a city that I’ve grown to love since I’ve been here these past going on five years. Just everything about it; the fashion, the culture, the pride that the people have here,” Claxton said. “We have good fans, but this year we didn’t deliver the way we wanted to. But Brooklyn, the support here definitely means a lot.
“It’s been wild. It’s been chaotic. It’s been a whirlwind, I’m not going to sit here and lie. But as far as me personally, I feel like I’ve really grown a lot from everything. I was able to play with some future Hall of Famers here. I’ve created some really great relationships with teammates. I’ve learned a lot from every single year, I’ve taken something and I’ve grown from that, and at the end of the day, that’s all you can do as a human being. Hopefully the best is yet to come.”
He will likely team with the Nets 19-year-old forward Noah Clowney who surprised fans with his shot-blocking and 3-point shooting at season’s end. Day’Ron Sharpe, the 6’10” fourth year forward is also under contract but in recent weeks, there have been recurring reports that the Memphis Grizzlies have interest.
No word yet on the Nets desire to re-sign their other free agents: Lonnie Walker IV, Dennis Smith Jr. and Trendon Watford. Starting Sunday, the Nets can begin talking to teams free agents and their free agents can talk to other teams.
Nic Claxton returning to Nets on four-year, $100 million contract - Brian Lewis - New York Post
Nic Claxton, Nets finalizing four-year, $100 million extension: source ($) - C.J Holmes - New York Daily News
Report: Nets hang on to Claxton with new four-year deal ($) - Evan Turner - Newsday
Sources: Nets to bring Nic Claxton back on 4-year, $100M deal - ESPN
Nic Claxton agrees to 4-year, $100 million deal to return to Nets: Report - Dan Devine - Yahoo! Sports
Nets re-signing C Nic Claxton to four-year deal: reports - John Flanigan - SNY
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