Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks had his eyes on the ’25 offseason back while the NBA season was still in its early stages in ’24. Months before the trade deadline, the Nets had made it abundantly and publicly clear that they were open for business and got started soon after. Now that the season is over, Brooklyn moves into its summer phase of rebuilding their roster. Marks will be going a different route than he did a few years back when he tried to assemble a super team. While he isn’t ruling out chasing after a superstar talent, Marks is more focused on being opportunistic, systematic, and strategic.
Nets GM Sean Marks Seeks Opportunistic Offseason
Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks has plenty of draft assets and cap room available to him to make for an impactful offseason
It started with shipping out Dorian Finney-Smith, Shake Milton, and Dennis Schröder earlier in the season. Eventually, Ben Simmons was waived as well. Nic Claxton, Cameron Johnson, and Cam Thomas were on the trade market but survived the February deadline. Of course, that doesn’t necessarily mean they will make it through the summer, and it’s unlikely for at least one or two of them. Marks appears ready to revamp Brooklyn entirely, and he has all the assets in front of him to do so. You have to credit Marks for that, being able to accumulate the many draft picks the Nets have right now. They have several first-rounders at their disposal, including a lottery selection. Marks also has cap room like no other GM across the league.
Marks has options galore
According to Brian Lewis of The New York Post, Marks is aware of the routes he can take this summer, whether going after someone like Giannis Antetokounmpo or another big-time player or taking the slow path and rebuilding step by step.
“We need to be opportunistic,” Marks said. “In this market we’re always going to have various different free agents and opportunities thrown at us, just simply being in a top-five market in the league; that’s going to happen. We don’t want to get sped up. We’ve talked multiple times about being systematic and strategic in how we build here. We know we have 15 first-round picks in the next six, seven years.
“So, there’s a lot of draft assets at stake. There’s a lot of cap room at stake. And how we use that, it’s probably too early to determine. But there’s a variety of different pathways we can go, and it’s just about being opportunistic as to how we build and when we go all in again, so to speak. And that could be going all in with whether it’s free agents or trades, but it also could be go all in with systematically growing some homegrown talent. We’ve done that in the past and grown some guys here, developed guys here, as well as attracted top-tier talent from elsewhere.”
Who could Brooklyn go after? Who could stay?
Giannis has been linked to Brooklyn for a while now, although acquiring him will take a lot. If Marks takes his time rebuilding the Nets roster, it would likely mean not going after a superstar, not immediately, anyway. Instead, Marks could take it slow; he said so himself, ‘We don’t want to be sped up.’
The likes of Johnson or Claxton could still find themselves with the Nets next season. According to Lewis, in his piece, Marks likes what Johnson brings and could envision him as part of Brooklyn’s future. Whatever changes come in Brooklyn this offseason are meant to change the trajectory of the franchise for many years ahead. But Marks won’t rush it; perhaps that is the best path forward.
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