“Personally, I feel like that brother needs help. I’m glad he didn’t try to choke me.” Jusuf Nurkic became another NBA player back in December 2023 to face the unexpected competitive side of Draymond Green. Despite him being amongst the best that the Warriors franchise has had over the last decade, the player’s notable instances of taking things physically, especially when it came to Jusuf Nurkic and Rudy Gobert, got him into trouble. Now, it seems as if Nic Claxton is weirdly following the 34-year-old’s unfavored ways.

Earlier today, during the season opener for both the Atlanta Hawks and the Brooklyn Nets, it was reported that the Center had been ejected from the game with a Flagrant 2 foul. The decision was made after Hawks’ Dyson Daniels attempted to get a layup during the 4th quarter but had a collision with Nic Claxton as he sprinted to the edge of the court and couldn’t stop him. After his rival fell, Claxton didn’t choose to intervene and instead just attempted to walk ahead.

Daniels, however, rose and immediately charged toward Nic aggressively. Amidst the jeers from the crowd, attempts were being made for the duo to be separated. While some would argue that Claxton’s actions might’ve been accidental, YES Network’s Ryan Ruocco was not among them. After all, he did claim the physical hit to be “excessive” and “unnecessary”, stating that it is an “obvious” Flagrant 2.

As Hall of Famer and 9x NBA All-Star Dominique Wilkins claimed “That’s just a swing”, Hawks play-by-play commentator Bob Rathbun replied, “Right up in the face of a guy — you can’t do that.”

The 2024-25 NBA season has barely begun, and we already have the first Flagrant 2 Foul of the tournament. However, it shouldn’t have been too surprising that the first one to commit this was Nic Claxton himself. After all, if the hooper’s past games have shown us anything, it is that he has a history of often getting himself involved in physical altercations.

Has Nic Claxton had any instances of reported physical brawls this year?

In January, the Brooklyn Nets and the Cleveland Cavaliers faced off as part of a regular season game being held in Paris! Everything seemed to be going fine until the 4th quarter, when Tristan Thompson got ejected and Nic Claxton got a technical foul during the final minutes. The duo had reportedly been engaging in trash-talk throughout the game, with a few of the shots being taken against each other. After making a memorable alley-oop, Claxton once again had some words to share as his Cavaliers rival contested the shot.

Things may have become too much for Thompson, causing him to visibly give Claxton a shoulder shiver, sending the 6-foot-11 center down. While Thompson was in the wrong here, he wouldn’t have engaged in the action if it wasn’t for Claxton’s verbal taunting.

Barely one month later, Nic Claxton had an incident with Warriors rookie Brandin Podziemski. Once again taking place during the 4th quarter (can’t these people just make it through the final stretch and leave the game happy!) an altercation occurred after Podziemski secured the rebound amidst a steady defense from Claxton.

Just as the Warrior rose to score, however, an upset Claxton hit the player from behind and swung his right arm toward the face, causing Podz to fall. Fortunately, things didn’t escalate as far as they did during the recent Hawks-Nets game. With Draymond Green being right there on the court, it was a good thing that another chokehold didn’t follow. Claxton was then ejected after receiving a Flagrant 2.

Coming back to the present, by losing to the Hawks via a 120-116 score, in addition to the ejection, Nic Claxton has not created a good impression during the earliest stage of the regular season. With the Nets set to have their next game against the Magic in the next couple of hours, it remains to be seen whether the Center will face any further repercussions of his physical brawl from today.