New York Notes: Claxton, Thomas, Randle, McBride

The Nets want to keep Nic Claxton and he would prefer to stay in Brooklyn, but things may get complicated when he becomes a free agent this summer, writes Brian Lewis of The New York Post (member-only article). The 24-year-old center will be coveted by every team that needs help in the middle, and the Nets could face several free-spending competitors when he hits the market.

“In our business, you never really know what’s going to happen as far as trades, contracts and everything,” Claxton said. “But I’ve been here four years, and Brooklyn has been … huge, played a huge role in my growth, and I’d love to be here. But we’ll see how that shakes out. I’m just taking it day-by-day … and figure all that stuff out later.”

An unidentified agent told Lewis that Claxton might land a four-year, $90MM deal, and other league sources indicated to Lewis that his value could more in line with the five-year, $100MM contract that Jarrett Allen got from Cleveland. Claxton has been a constant source of production, even amid Brooklyn’s recent slide, averaging 12.2 points, a career-high 9.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks in 28 games.

“That’s just our job,” Claxton said. “It’s our job just to stay in the present and not worry about not worrying about tomorrow, worry about this next game, whatever the next game may be. So just keeping yourself healthy; and everything, the contract, everything will work itself out. But right now, we’ve just got to focus on just trying to win games and then [for] me, just being the best version of myself for my team.”

There’s more from New York:

• Thursday’s loss in Paris left Nets coach Jacque Vaughn with more lineup decisions, Lewis adds in a separate story. Cam Thomas helped to lead a fourth quarter comeback and matched Mikal Bridges with a team-high 26 points. Vaughn also praised Thomas’ efforts with boxing out and rebounding, but he hasn’t committed to moving the third-year guard back into the starting lineup. Thomas hasn’t started since December 27, and Vaughn said putting him in the starting unit makes it “pretty small.”
• Part of Julius Randle‘s improvement has been an ability to avoid technical fouls, notes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. The Knicks forward, who has picked up just one technical this season, says he’s learned how to control his anger. “It’s more about me personally than it is about anything else,” he said. “Letting me know that as a human being I’m growing and learning how to deal with frustration better.”
• The 44 points that Dallas guard Kyrie Irving scored on Thursday marked a rare defensive letdown for the Knicks, per Steve Popper of Newsday. The team takes pride in finding ways to shut down the league’s best scorers. “The name of the game is to put the ball in the hoop, and my job as a defender is to stop that,” Miles McBride said. “If he did his job, I didn’t do mine. I like it kind of as an edge thing — if you think you’ve got to live with those shots, then you’re kind of losing that edge of always being ‘I want to get this stop.’ It’s treating every play like the last play of the game, because you never know what it comes down to.”