Reusing the same HttpClient object, the right way to call different URI's with same HttpClient object

HttpClientWebApiConnection.cs

using System;
using System.Net.Http;
using System.Threading.Tasks;

/// <summary>
/// WebApi connection
/// </summary>
namespace WebApiConnectionNameSpace
{
    public class WebApiConnection
    {
        private static HttpClient WebApiClient = null;
        private static readonly object threadlock = new object();

        /// <summary>
        /// Send the request to the Web Api and get the response back
        /// </summary>
        /// <param name="uri">uri</param>
        /// <param name="request">request message</param>
        /// <returns></returns>
        private async Task<HttpResponseMessage> SendRequestToWebApi(string uri, HttpRequestMessage request)
        {
            HttpResponseMessage response = null;
            try
            {
                if (request == null)
                {
                    return new HttpResponseMessage(System.Net.HttpStatusCode.BadRequest);
                }
                request.RequestUri = new Uri(uri);
                //Thread lock to create the HttpClient
                lock (threadlock)
                {
                    if (WebApiClient == null)
                    {
                        WebApiClient = new HttpClient();
                    }
                }
                response = await WebApiClient.SendAsync(request);
                return response;
            }
            catch (Exception ex)
            {
                throw;
            }
        }

    }
}