Nic Claxton May Be Brooklyn's Best Rim Protector

Nic Claxton is going into his eighth season now with the Brooklyn Nets and his journey into the starting center position has not been easy.

Amid trade rumors, multiple injuries and career highs and lows, Claxton went from a G League project to Brooklyn’s best rim-protector. 

Born in South Carolina, Claxton went on to play two seasons at the University of Georgia. There he averaged 8.4 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.9 blocks while playing 23 minutes per game. With a total of 123 blocks across his two seasons, he became Georgia’s No. 8 all-time leader in career blocks. 

Claxton was drafted in the second round of the 2019 NBA Draft as the 31st overall pick and signed a three year rookie contract with a value of $4,198,912. He came in behind Jarrett Allen and DeAndre Jordan, Brooklyn’s centers at the time, who were already fighting for the starting role. Ultimately, Claxton only played in 15 games during his rookie season. 

He also spent time playing for the Long Island Nets, Brooklyn’s G League affiliate, after a left hamstring injury left him needing time to recover. He started five out of nine games and averaged 21.2 minutes, 16.7 points and 7.3 rebounds. Claxton then ended up missing the remainder of his rookie season due to a shoulder injury that required surgery in late June 2020. 

Unfortunately, injuries continued to plague Claxton’s NBA career and he only played half of the 2020-2021 season. He still managed to play in 32 games with one start and joined only four other players in Nets history to average over 1.3 blocks per game in their 21 or younger seasons. 

The 2022-2023 season is where Claxton truly shined. He recorded career highs across the board, 12.6 points, 9.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 2.5 blocks in 29.9 minutes per game. This was across 76 games, all starts, which was more games than he had in his first three seasons combined. He also led the NBA in field goal percentage, 70.5%, as well as ranked second in a single season in Nets history. 

Claxton finished ninth in the NBA Defensive Player of the Year voting with a 108.2 defensive rating and a total of 189 blocks. After holding almost the same numbers in the 2023-2024 season, these stellar season performances earned him an extension of his contract with the Nets, signing a four year contract worth a guaranteed $97,000,000 through 2028. 

Since then though, Claxton has failed to uphold these numbers in the 2024-2025 and 2025-2026 seasons. While his minutes have been consistent and his offensive game has increased, his rebounds and defensive dominance have declined significantly. In the most recent season, he averaged 6.9 rebounds and 1.1 blocks.

The lack of production could be due to a series of hamstring, back, hip injuries. Late in the 2025-2026 season, a thumb injury left him missing the last five regular season games.

Across the first four games of the 2025-2026 season, which ended up continuing into a seven game losing streak for Brooklyn, Claxton failed to record a single block. At the most recent trade deadline, he was one of the players involved in trade rumours alongside star forward Michael Porter Jr and guard Cam Thomas.

Surrounded by a young team, the franchise will look toward veteran Claxton to lead both on and off the court as Brooklyn continues its rebuild. At his best, Claxton is a player that provides defensive intensity and elite rim protection, but the challenge now is whether he can stay healthy and rediscover the form that once established him as one of the league’s best defenders. 

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