Nets center Nic Claxton won’t be Lakers’ next 'deal'

In the aftermath of what will go down as the internet-shattering heist of a lifetime, it’s doubtful NBA executives are going to cut the Lakers another deal anytime soon. 

Dallas gave away five-time All-NBA guard Luka Doncic in the darkness of trade deadline discussions for two tangerines and a paperclip, without shopping him across the league — something that will fail to make sense to basketball fans worldwide likely through the end of our existence

With Los Angeles shipping Anthony Davis out in the blockbuster trade, now the purple and gold need a new frontcourt presence to bolster its lackluster defensive roster. To what extent the Nets are willing to assist in that cause remains to be seen. 

Nets general manager Sean Marks shouldn’t entertain helping reshape the structure of the league for years to come by pairing a 25-year-old shot blocker with a 25-year-old generational guard and arguably the greatest basketball player of all time in LA. Understandably, though, nothing is off the table during this Brooklyn rebuild… for the right price. 

Few bigs would fit better for the Lakers than Brooklyn's Nic Claxton, too.

ClutchPoints’ Erik Slater reported following the Doncic-Davis trade that ‘Brooklyn is open for business,’ stating both Day’Ron Sharpe and Nic Claxton are available. Kirk Goldsberry, a best-selling author and NBA analyst at The Ringer, later added that Claxton and Robert Williams III are the two names that keep coming up in regards to the next move in Los Angeles.

“I would guess that one of them will be on the Lakers,” Goldsberry said. 

What this will all boil down to is how desperate Los Angeles actually is to address its defensive liabilities, because after what we all just watched unfold, conventional wisdom says Marks wouldn’t budge on Claxton to the Lakers without a king’s ransom. Now, if Marks is interested in some of the leftovers Dallas negligently forgot to take home, then Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka might just be able to convince himself to pay up. 

On The Bill Simmons Podcast, Goldsberry also claimed Los Angeles was prepared to include multiple first-round picks and Dalton Knecht for Doncic before the package reportedly started to dwindle as the Mavericks allowed their own irrational concerns to be Pelinka’s leverage. Even with Claxton’s drop in production (largely due to a demoralizing Nets tank) being easy to exploit in trade discussions, don't expect to see Brooklyn play into those same mind games with the Lakers.

Something to think about: Knecht Four inside Barclays Center?