Nicolas Claxton

In 2014, Claxton played for the United States Virgin Islands at the Centrobasket Under-15 Championship in Panama City, averaging a double-double of 10.6 points and 11.8 rebounds per game. He made another appearance for the Virgin Islands at the 2015 Centrobasket Under-17 Championship in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he averaged 11 points and eight rebounds per game. Claxton competed at the 2016 FIBA Americas Under-18 Championship in Valdivia, Chile. He averaged a team-high 12 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, leading his team to seventh place. In the summer of 2018, Claxton joined the senior Virgin Islands national team at qualifying competition for the 2019 FIBA World Cup.

As a freshman for Georgia, Claxton started in five of 33 games, averaging 3.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.3 blocks per game. In his sophomore season, he became a full-time starter and averaged 13 points, 8.6 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game, leading his team in all three categories. Claxton earned second-team All-Southeastern Conference (SEC) from league coaches. On April 19, 2019, he declared for the 2019 NBA draft. Claxton was invited to the NBA Draft Combine, which took place in May 2019, and drew praise from CBS Sports for his performance there.

On June 20, 2019, Claxton was selected with the 31st overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft by the Brooklyn Nets. On July 7, 2019, the Nets announced that they had signed Claxton. He suffered a hamstring injury in January 2020 and was assigned to their G League affiliate, the Long Island Nets. On June 24, 2020, the Nets announced that Claxton had undergone successful arthroscopic labrum repair surgery on his left shoulder and was expected to miss the remaining 2019–20 season.