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Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton will be coming into the 2024-25 season with a new contract and with a different coaching staff that wants to get the best out of him. While Claxton has stated plenty of times over the past few years that his defensive prowess is underrated by the rest of the NBA, it seems that his voice remains unheard.
ESPN recently put out an article where their NBA experts made their picks for which players should win certain end-of-season awards such as the Defensive Player of the Year award. When it was time for the experts to put their votes together for the award, Claxton did not receive a single vote for the accolade.
This shouldn’t be surprising for the simple fact that the Nets are not expected to be very good next season now that the franchise is going through the rebuilding process after trading Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks. With Brooklyn projected to win around 20 games next season, it’s clear that the NBA public as a whole is out on the Nets being competitive and for good reason.
Ever since the 2022-23 season when Claxton’s name was first generating buzz for his play on the defensive end in support of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Claxton hasn’t been able to get the benefit of the doubt from the voting public. That isn’t sure to change unless Brooklyn is better than expected, but Claxton will still look to be the best version of himself either way.