On his first day on the job as Nets head coach, Jordi Fernandez predicted Nic Claxton would win Defensive Player of the Year.
General manager Sean Marks called keeping the unrestricted free agent their single biggest offseason task.
It sounds like the Nets are in the Nic Claxton business.
“Nic is a quote-unquote big that has defensive versatility. I believe he’ll be Defensive Player of the Year. For us, he’s a priority in this summer,” Fernandez said at his introductory press conference at HSS Training Center.
Of course, there is a subtlety there.
It’s unclear whether Fernandez’s comment “for us” meant Claxton is a priority for the Nets, or whether he meant the center’s future Defensive Player of the Year would be earned while in their uniform.
And that’s relevant.
Claxton, 25, bet on himself by inking a two-year contract instead of three in 2021, letting him hit unrestricted free agency in June.
And multiple league executives have told The Post he could top $20 million annually and a nine-figure total.
Brooklyn has been bracing for this since last summer.
But Claxton has told The Post in the past that he’d like to stay, and the Nets clearly want to keep him.
“Nic is the No. 1 priority for us, there’s no doubt about that. We hope he’s a Net for a very long time. We hope we can continue to build around him and build with him and so forth,” Marks said. “He’s scratched the surface on who he could end up being one day.
“I love the challenge of him being Defensive Player of the Year. Nic and I have talked in the offseasons about similar accolades, Most Improved Player, Defensive Player, All-Defensive team and so forth.
He has the skill set, he has the mind to be able to put himself in those positions if he continues to work and continues to develop.”
Claxton averaged 11.8 points, a career-high 9.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.1 blocks per game this season.
He’s emerged as one of the league’s best switching big men.
Last season, he was second in the NBA in blocks, fourth in defensive win shares, sixth in defensive rating and ninth in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
Apparently Fernandez is confident of fully unlocking Claxton’s potential.
“The way we can play through him — obviously he’s great in pick-and-roll, he’s quick to the rim, he puts pressure on the rim … but also his ability to play the dribble-handoff game, which lately in the NBA is a style that’s very efficient and it helps us with ball movement,” Fernandez said.
“When everybody touches the ball and everybody’s involved, everybody’s happier, and you’re harder to guard because there’s more … you’re not that predictable [as] just playing pick-and-roll. So he fits perfectly what we want to do moving forward.”
Presuming the free agent is here at all.
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