After missing 32 games with knee tendinopathy, former Georgia basketball center Nicolas Claxton made his season debut with the Brooklyn Nets in Tuesday’s 128-117 win over the Sacramento Kings.
In his first game appearance since Feb. 28 of last year, Claxton scored 5 points and added one rebound and one assist in 14 minutes.
Checking in for the first time this season: NIC CLAXTON đź’Ş pic.twitter.com/D4YdGg99lP
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) February 24, 2021
Claxton was drafted with the No. 31 pick in the second round of the 2019 NBA Draft, but didn’t get the start to his professional career the way he had hoped, battling knee and shoulder injuries for the last two seasons.
Claxton played only 15 games in his rookie year and split time between the Nets and their G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets, before undergoing surgery to repair an injured hamstring right before last year’s ‘bubble’.
In his time at Georgia (2017-2019), Claxton averaged 8.4 points per game and 6.4 rebounds per game, while earning second team All-SEC honors in 2019, when he led the SEC in blocks (81) and blocks per game (2.5).
Check out Claxton and the Nets’ next game on Saturday versus the Dallas Mavericks at 8:30 p.m. ET on ABC.