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Nic Claxton confident Nets don’t need to make a trade

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Nets
Brooklyn Nets center Nic Claxton, top, battles New Orleans Pelicans forward Herbert Jones, bottom, for the ball in the first half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Friday, Jan. 6, 2023.
AP Photo/Matthew Hinton

Nets fans may be hoping that general manager Sean Marks will make a move before the NBA trade deadline, but big man Nic Claxton believes they’ll be more than OK if they don’t. 

The Nets have undergone a miraculous turnaround after what had been a dismal start to the year and went into Sunday’s game against the Heat with a 14-2 record dating back to Dec. 2. And the Nets have played a brand of basketball that has resembled what many NBA observers had anticipated when Marks convinced Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to come to Brooklyn.  

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The drastic change for the Nets has given the team a renewed sense of confidence and Claxton envisions the team continuing with the roster they currently have assembled. 

“I hope so,” Claxton told YES Network on Friday. “Everybody, especially earlier in the season, ‘oh, they need this, they need a big, they need that,’ but we have everything we need when everybody is on the court, locked in, and we’re all scrambling, playing hard.”

“We have enough length to where it gives us bigger guys fits like it did tonight against a Valanciunas. So, yeah, we good with everything we got in the locker room and we just got to keep building.”

Nets
Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving (11) celebrates after a score with center Nic Claxton (33) next to New Orleans Pelicans guard Jose Alvarado (15) in the second half of an NBA basketball game in New Orleans, Friday, Jan. 6, 2023.AP Photo/Matthew Hinton

There has been little trade speculation involving the Nets this season now that things have stabilized. After the Nets had gotten off to a 2-6 record in their first eight games and drama swirled around Irving, there had been speculation the Nets could blow the whole thing up. 

That never materialized and now the focus in the NBA has shifted from the Nets to The Los Angeles Lakers and the growingly frustrated LeBron James. The NBA superstar told The Athletic “y’all know what the f— should be happening” during a brief one-on-one conversation with the outlet about the current situation in LA.

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In Brooklyn, the trade winds have remained quiet, though Marks will likely work the phones to see if there is a piece or two that could help the Nets as they inch closer to the second half of the season. Brooklyn’s success has pushed them back into the conversation as a championship contender, but size, or their lack thereof, has been something that has come up when talking about areas of improvement. 

That’s not to say, Claxton hasn’t done a good job, because he has had a career year as the Nets’ 5 and he has become an integral part of their success. Still, Marks wouldn’t be crazy to try and find some help in that department either. 

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