It was always a foregone conclusion that Nic Claxton would become an unrestricted free agent. But it’s no sure thing he will leave Brooklyn. He might not ever even hit the open market.
More and more the perception around the NBA is that Claxton is likely to re-sign with the Nets. That conceivably could happen before anybody else gets a chance to officially bid, with Brooklyn having an exclusive negotiating window with their center that starts the day after the NBA Finals ends. Other teams can’t negotiate with Claxton until 6 p.
m. on June 30. It remains to be seen if the Nets will sign him before then, or at all.
But there’s a perception among league executives who spoke with The Post that he’s likely to re-sign. Yahoo Sports recently reported the same. “Nic is the No.
1 priority for us, there’s no doubt about that,” general manager Sean Marks said. “We hope he’s a Net for a very long time. We hope we can continue to build around him and build with him and so forth.
And it’s been fun to watch Nic develop from his days at Georgia coming all the way through here. He’s scratched the surface on who he could end up being one day.” The Post spoke with multiple league executives about how much Claxton could command, with one suggesting he will get $20 million annually and another pointing toward a Jakob Poetl contract (four years, $78 million) as an absolute minimum.
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