In June 20th of 2019, the Brooklyn Nets would draft Nicolas Claxton with the 31st pick in the NBA draft. Obviously, we all know how that turned out to be. However, what most people don't know is the gamble they took on draft night with him.
According to multiple sources, the Nets had viewed Claxton as their top prospect at their position in the draft, and they were highly eager to get him. In particular, according to assistant coach Ryan Forehan-Kelly, they were highly impressed by his versatility. Apparently, he used to play guard when he was younger, before his growth spurt.
The first thing that stood out to me with Nic was just how skilled he was at everything. Like, he was good at everything. You know, I always talk about like a tool belt as a player, you know what I'm saying? He had, you know, tools. When when I came through in '80s, '90s basketball, you had like one or two or three tools and you just mastered those tools and and, you know, that's what you ran with. I mean, this kid came in, had like 12, 13, 14 tools on his belt. And I was like, you could do all that? You can dribble and handle and pass and do all that? As you get to know him, you know, you know that he played guard when he was younger and he was smaller and then he hit a growing spurt and then, you know, started playing, you know, as a big and so, you know, along his journey, along his path, he developed so many different tools.
Claxton was projected to go 24th overall to the Sixers. When he fell to the Nets' pick at 27, the organization should have felt ecstatic. It should have been a no-brainer.
With the 27th pick in the two-thousand nineteen NBA draft, the Brooklyn Nets select Mfiondu Kabengele from Burlington, Canada and Florida State University.
Wow! The Nets draft room instead chose to gamble on the pick by conducting a draft night trade with the Los Angeles Clippers. The Clippers would acquire the draft rights to Mfiondu Kabengele in exchange for Jaylen Hands and a 2020 Sixers pick.
Apparently, the Nets had been surprised by how much Claxton had fallen and decided to wait a bit longer to see how much further he would slide.
And the gamble paid off. With each pick that went by, it seemed like Claxton would slide to them.
Welcome to the second round, and let's continue to embrace the next generation of NBA players. With the 31st pick in the two-thousand nineteen NBA draft, the Brooklyn Nets select Nicolas Claxton from the University of Georgia.
According to Ryan:
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