Brooklyn center Nic Claxton moved to No. 6 on the Nets NBA all-time career blocks list with a three-block performance Wednesday night against the Pistons.
In his sixth season with the Nets, Claxton now climbs to an impressive 470 career blocks in 272 games, passing seven-year forward Chris Morris. He's recorded 371 of those blocks since the start of the 2022-23 season and remains just 90 from breaking into the top five.
Nets NBA All-Time Career Blocks Leaders
- Brook Lopez (972)
- George Johnson (863)
- Buck Williams (696)
- Mike Gminski (599)
- Derrick Coleman (559)
- Nic Claxton (470)
Brooklyn legend Brook Lopez is firmly the Nets’ all-time blocks king with 972 total across his 562 career games, towering 502 blocks ahead of Claxton. Drafted by the Nets with the No. 10 overall pick in 2008, Lopez anchored the frontcourt for nine seasons before getting traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in 2017, alongside Kyle Kuzma, in exchange for Timofey Mozgov and D’Angelo Russell.
The Milwaukee Bucks signed the former NBA All-Star the following year in 2018 and eventually became champions with Lopez as a starter in 2021.
Defensive phenom George Johnson claims the No. 2 all-time spot with an unfathomable 863 career blocks in just 305 games. The three-time NBA blocks leader stacked 274 total during the Nets’ 1977-78 campaign, still one of the top 40 single-season leaders for blocks in league history. Johnson posted more than 250 blocks in four-straight seasons from 1977-1981, and his Nets career-high 3.38 blocks per game ranks No. 54 on the NBA’s all-time list.
Johnson, who played with Rick Barry on the Golden State Warriors from 1972-1978, also famously shot his free throws underhanded – the only other player known to do so consistently since Barry’s retirement in 1980.
moving on up 📈
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) January 9, 2025
Congrats @_claxton33 on moving to six on the Nets NBA all-time career blocks list. pic.twitter.com/c7CsDNVCrH
Claxton has a real chance to crack the top four on this list by the end of next year and could even knock at Lopez’s record before his Nets contract expires (should he see it through with the team), potentially breaking the mark in fewer games. For reference, the 2022-23 Nets season was Claxton’s peak as a rim protector to this point in his career with 189 blocks in 76 games.
Standing at 6-foot-11, 215 pounds, Claxton was selected by Brooklyn in the second round of the 2019 NBA Draft and signed a four-year, $97 million extension last July in which Brooklyn owes $69.44 million over upcoming three seasons. He currently averages 9.8 points, 7.5 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game on 55.2 percent shooting from the field through 31 appearances in 2024-25.
This 25-year-old South Carolina native easily goes down as one of the most notorious shot blockers in Nets history, but becoming the GOAT will be a much taller task.