Sean Marks speaks on Brooklyn Nets’ recent moves, future flexibility: ‘You have to be poised’

“Great teams, or teams that are able to overachieve, have been together for a while, and they’re able to find continuity. And I’m not really helping the coaches in that regard, if you’ve got to be honest.”

There’s one nugget of truth Brooklyn Nets General Manager Sean Marks dropped on Thursday in his exclusive sit-down with Brian Lewis of the New York Post. Marks has not helped his Brooklyn coaching staff maintain continuity, not with two significant trades more than a month ahead of the February 6 trade deadline. Whatever Marks’ master plan is, it’s clear that the Nets are in a state of transition.

And so, before the Nets won a tipsy contest against the Milwaukee Bucks on Thursday night, Marks held court twice. First with Lewis, then with Sarah Kustok of YES Network, an interview that aired during their pregame show…

In that one, Marks didn’t just stick to pleasantries. He thanked Dorian Finney-Smith and Shake Milton for their time in Brooklyn, but added that, “We were obviously having discussions with multiple teams, as teams do at this particular point in the year, so that’s not out of the ordinary. But the deal with the Lakers — probably a total of, I don’t know, half-a-day, 12 hours, something like that. From start to finish.”

He also praised Head Coach Jordi Fernández, sorta-kinda acknowledging the strain on a coaching staff attempting to win games in year one of a rebuild. When asked what the mindset of the team should be as we approach the deadline, Marks said: “‘You guys go compete, and you build a culture of going out there — a competitive culture.’ I’m never going to tell them to not do that. And I think that’s contagious. You know, the players have bought into that. They see how honest, how competitive [Fernández] is.”

The more intriguing questions for Brooklyn Nets fans, though, lie with Marks, rather than Fernandez. What are his plans moving forward?

Well, he didn’t quite spell ‘em out for us in his conversation with Lewis, but he did stress the importance of flexibility, which he’s done frequently. throughout his nine-year tenure as Nets General Manager. But now he’s really walking the walk, as Brooklyn is set to have nearly $70 million in cap space this summer, unheard of in the new CBA.

Lewis, ever the pro, asked Marks if there’s any specific star or moment in time he’s looking at to make a splash: “You have to be poised and position yourself to be able to have that opportunity. We’re going to give ourselves the best chance to do that. Now, on whom and when? That’s TBD.”

But whenever it comes time to make splashes in the trade market or free agency, Marks is confident Brooklyn can get it done, for a variety of reasons: “We’ve got these draft assets that, you can obviously pick them, you can trade them, you can move them around. We’ve got the room. And ultimately, we’ve got two things: We’ve got a market that’s going to be attractive, and we’ve got Joe [Tsai] as an owner, that’s proved that at the right time, he’ll go all-in, and he’s not afraid to say it and do it.”

In sum: The Brooklyn Nets have options, toting one of the league’s fattest stashes of draft capital, including four first-round picks this summer, and many more beyond that … a total of 31, 15 in the first, 16 in the second through 2031. So there’s trade ammo, there’s cap space, and yes, the Nets play in a destination city sure to pop up on plenty of wish-lists around the league.

“When we started out here eight years ago, the hand we were dealt, we were handcuffed. There was only a couple … really one way of building, whereas now we’ve got a few more,” Marks told Lewis.

We all have our own opinions on how the Brooklyn Nets should be building for the future, as does Sean Marks, though he’s certainly on the less vocal side about his preferences.

Marks and the rest of Brooklyn’s front office can’t get too far ahead of themselves though. There are looming decisions to make, no matter how simple they may seem at first blush. How interested in Cam Johnson are the Sacramento Kings, really? Is De’Aaron Fox long for that team? We know Jimmy Butler isn’t long for the Miami Heat, is Brooklyn an eventual landing spot? What about Cam Thomas’ upcoming restricted free agency? And how’s that 2025 NBA Draft looking anyway, what with Brooklyn’s four first-rounders and all?

So Marks spoke with the media in a pair of exclusive interviews on Thursday afternoon, and while he kept his cards close to the chest, he was pretty honest. The Brooklyn Nets do have a lot of options.

But they also means they have a lot of decisions to make.