Choose a more suitable one! Should Thunder aim at the No. 1 center of the Nets?

As we all know, Oklahoma City Thunder needs to find a reliable insider partner for Chett in the free market this summer. It seems that more and more media believe that Nicolas Claxton, who currently plays for the Brooklyn Nets, will become the target of the Thunder. Clarkston's contract with the Nets will expire this summer, and he will also become a completely free player. Considering that Thunder will free up more than $30 million of salary space after the expiration of Gordon Hayward's contract this summer, if properly operated, it can even have more than $40 million of salary space. In this case, if Thunder really decides to fight for Clarkston, it is estimated that other teams will be difficult to match the quotation of Thunder, and they will also become the most powerful competitors of Clarkston. The only question is, does Thunder really need Clarkston? Or how high is Thunder's demand for Clarkston?

In this season's NBA regular season, Clarkston has played 71 times on behalf of the team, with an average playing time of 29.8 minutes. The average field data is 11.9 points, 9.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 0.7 steals, 2.1 blocks, 62.9% shooting percentage, 20% three-point shooting percentage and 55.1% free throw percentage. Clarkston's performance in this season has not made significant progress, even a certain degree of decline compared to last season. His efficiency in the offensive side has declined, and his performance in basket protection has also regressed. Of course, the decline of Clarkston's performance has something to do with the confusion of the Nets. Moreover, the Nets also lack a reliable point guard in the No. 1 position, which also leads to Clarkston's difficulty in getting enough support on the offensive side.

It is undeniable that Clarkston is able to use his own advantages in sports ability and moving speed to provide a large number of assistance and supplementary defense support in defense. However, Chet can actually complete these things well, and the completion is not bad at all. Clarkston, like Chett, may encounter some problems in the face of powerful centers. He also has obvious weaknesses in his confrontation ability. On the other hand, Clarkston's role in the attack is actually very limited. Clarkston lacks basic independent scoring ability. His scores are basically concentrated in the basket, and he also needs teammates to feed cake to play some advantages. Considering that Thunder needs to pay a big price for signing Clarkston, they certainly hope to let him serve as the starter and the average playing time is more than 25 minutes. However, Clarkston will replace Josh Giddey, the only player with excellent passing ability and field vision in the Thunder starting lineup. Who will pass the ball to him?

Since Thunder has such a large salary space in this summer, either choose to sign a replacement center with an average salary of 10-15 million dollars, with an average playing time of 20 minutes or less, or simply spend more money to find a more comprehensive and indeed complementary insider partner with Chet. For players like Clarkston who have certain abilities but are not so outstanding and are not compatible with the current system of the team, Thunder should consider carefully.