Rookie power forward Nicolas Claxton speaks on his debut performance with the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night.
The end of this past five-day workweek concluded with the Brooklyn Nets taking on Sesi Franca Basquete of Brazil in a preseason game on Friday night. The matchup, one that took place at the Barclays Center, featured the Nets coming away with the 137-89 win.
Taurean Prince stole the show, as he had a team-high 22 points for the Nets. However, one individual that also caught the eyes of many was rookie power forward Nicolas Claxton. The first-year pro out of the University of Georgia dropped 13 points in nearly nine minutes on the floor. When discussing the performance, Claxton touched base on how he tried to take advantage of his initial minutes.
“At the end of the day, whatever level it is, it’s basketball,” said Claxton, per Brian Lewis of the New York Post. “I just wanted to come out there and affect the game in any way that I could, and I think I did a pretty good job of that. Just using the minutes that I had and making something happen. My teammates helped me out a lot, too — just finding me in my spots and everything.”
The Nets drafted Claxton in the second round (No. 31 overall) of June’s NBA Draft. He’ll now work himself into a Brooklyn rotation of forwards and centers that includes Jarrett Allen, DeAndre Jordan, and Rodions Kurucs. That rotation will be affected greatly when Kevin Durant eventually returns from injury.
