By the end of last season, abrupt as it was, Nic Claxton knew he was at a crossroads. He was a restricted free agent facing that well-known crunchtime in any NBA player’s career: the second contract. While there had been flashes of brilliance, Claxton had played fewer than half the Nets games in his three years, beset by shoulder surgery, knee tendinopathy as well as COVID and a non-COVID illness that sounded a lot like mononucleosis.
Claxton had been one of the Nets few bright lights in the Celtics four-game sweep, but needed consistency. So who did he turn to?