While the Nets are losing games on the court, they’re preparing to make some pretty big decisions off of it.
The biggest — literally and figuratively — could be Nic Claxton.
The Nets want Claxton. He wants to be a Net.
But whether they can meet in the middle this summer remains to be seen.
“In our business, you never really know what’s going to happen as far as trades, contracts and everything,” Claxton had told The Post earlier this season. “But I’ve been here four years, and Brooklyn has been … huge, played a huge role in my growth, and I’d love to be here. But we’ll see how that shakes out. I’m just taking it day-by-day … and figure all that stuff out later.”
Later will be this coming summer.
While Brooklyn struggles to right their listing season — having dropped a dozen of their last 15 games coming into Monday night’s MLK Day tilt against the visiting Miami Heat — general manager Sean Marks has to make some dispassionate decisions. Hot streaks and cold streaks aside, he has to determine who is a keeper, who is a trade asset, who he can pay and how much.
Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith and Royce O’Neale are all players that have drawn some level of interest around the league, and will bear watching leading up to next month’s trade deadline.
While the Nets need all the size they can get and have shown every indication that they want to keep the 6-foot-11 Claxton — their most valuable trade asset not named Mikal Bridges — they’re also acutely aware that keeping him won’t be simple. Or cheap.
The 24-year-old Claxton — with a 7-foot-2 ½-inch wingspan — is in line for a windfall, and generational wealth.
“The thing I’d love to see most is Nic get his $100 million [contract], because I’ve seen him come in the league,” Dinwiddie said.
Claxton will hit unrestricted free agency over the summer. Only players coming off rookie deals are restricted; and since Claxton signed a two-year pact instead of three, Brooklyn hasn’t been allowed to extend him with a season left on his contract.
Currently earning a base salary of $8.75 million and carrying a cap hit of $9.625 million, Claxton could conceivably double that pay come the summer. Hoopshype cap expert Yossi Gozlan told The Post he estimated that even if Claxton finishes with a similar campaign to last season and shows no significant jump in performance, the center is “looking at least at [Jakob] Poeltl money.”
The Toronto big man is in the first season of a four-year, $78 million deal.
One agent told The Post this week that Claxton would likely command a four-year, $90 million deal — roughly similar to the four-year extension Nets teammate Cam Johnson signed last summer that will pay him $94.5 million total, $90 million guaranteed.
Added another league source: “If more cap space teams don’t surface, they’ll probably end up getting him back at market value,” which he suggested would be in the neighborhood of Clint Capela’s shorter two-year, $45.8 million pact. But considering Claxton’s age, he likely could command a similar salary for at least another year, if not two.
Keeping the main thing the main thing
After last season’s breakout campaign, Claxton has followed that up with similar numbers, averaging 12.2 points, a career-high 9.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks. Despite the Nets’ inconsistency and his own looming free agency, Claxton insists he’s kept his focus where it needs to be.
“That’s just our job,” Claxton told The Post with a shrug. “It’s our job just to stay in the present and not worry about not worrying about tomorrow, worry about this next game, whatever the next game may be.
“So just keeping yourself healthy; and everything, the contract, everything will work itself out. But right now, we’ve just got to focus on just trying to win games and then [for] me, just being the best version of myself for my team.”
Lately, he’s been just that, or at least close to it.
He’ll head into Monday’s game against the Heat on a streak of four consecutive double-doubles, averaging 16.0 points on .778 shooting and a dozen rebounds.
Claxton has posted double-doubles in eight of his last 10 games, notching 13.0 points, 11.3 boards and two blocks in that span.
Granted, his field-goal shooting is down slightly from last year, when he was buoyed by playing as a lob threat alongside Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. Without the stars’ gravity, he’s had both more responsibility and tougher sledding.
But Claxton — a terrible free-throw shooter who came into the season making just .540 all-time — is on pace for a career-best .595 mark. And even though his blocks are down, his block percentage (7.5) is actually a career-high. He’s merely seen his minutes scaled back somewhat due to the emergence of backup Day’Ron Sharpe.
The latter’s improved play behind Claxton is further proof that — despite whatever failings Brooklyn’s front office may have in terms of providing stability — they know how to find centers.
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Big things to sort out
Marks & Co. have drafted a center every other year: Jarrett Allen (No. 22 in 2017), Claxton (No. 31 in ’19), Sharpe (trading for No. 29 in ’21) and current rookie Noah Clowney (No. 21 last year).
Allen made an All-Star game and inked a five-year, $100 million deal with Cleveland. Several league personnel told The Post that Claxton could get a quasi-similar deal.
“Yeah, I mean, [the Nets’ front office] track record is immaculate. Their ability to develop late first-round bigs is obviously there,” Dinwiddie said. “JA signed for $100 million, Nic should.
“Day’Ron, it’s probably a little bit more murky, just because his game is maybe a little bit less sexy than those two. But he has a ton of talent, and … if he starts knocking down the 3-ball you’re talking about Draymond [Green] with a jumper, you feel me? So that’s a pretty dynamic type of basketball player. And so I hope he gets everything that he deserves as well.”
Sharpe is currently sidelined by a hyperextended knee. That means despite the presence of Harry Giles III (logged just 62 minutes) and Clowney (a teenager still currently with G League Long Island), Claxton’s minutes will probably increase.
“We’ll have to figure some things out,” Brooklyn head coach Vaughn said. “Harry Giles will get some minutes for us, and we’ll definitely need Nic Claxton to probably play more minutes. Then we’ll figure things out with the rest of the roster.”
The same can be said of Marks’ need to sort things out this summer. And few of his decisions will be more vital than Claxton.
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