MILWAUKEE — Nets general manager Sean Marks has overseen one of the most turbulent campaigns in recent memory this season, but he is expected to be back for 2023-24, sources have told The Post.
The dismantling of the Nets’ Big 3 of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving and James Harden was lambasted in some quarters as the NBA’s worst failure in decades and had some speculating that Marks could end up being ousted.
But with the Nets on a three-game winning streak, a highly placed league source told The Post “ownership has full confidence in that front office to build for the future.”
Neither Marks nor Nets owner Joe Tsai had any comment, but multiple sources confirmed the New Zealand-born GM’s expected return.
Another source has described Marks and Tsai as being “in lockstep.”
Marks has been on the job for seven years and now will oversee a second rebuilding of the Nets.
Sean Marks is expected back as the Nets’ general manager next season, sources told The Post. Charles Wenzelberg/NY PostHe can afford the stability on the basketball side that the Nets have lacked on the business side, with four CEOs in the past four years.
Even after the trades of both Durant and Irving last month, for which some felt Marks might be scapegoated, the GM extended coach Jacque Vaughn’s deal on Feb. 21.
It was not Marks’ decision alone to reward Vaughn, but it was notably his voice in the ensuing press release.
Marks’ current contractual status is unclear.
The Post reported in April 2019 that the Nets had given Marks an extension, then he proceeded to land Durant and Irving that summer. He traded for former MVP Harden in January 2021 to complete the Big 3.
Sean Marks was forced to trade Kyrie Irving (l.) to the Mavericks and Kevin Durant (r.) to the Suns last month. APBut Harden forced a trade to Philadelphia at the 2021-22 deadline, and the primary return — Ben Simmons — has been a disaster thus far in terms of health, performance and contractual commitment.
Durant tried to get both Marks and then-coach Steve Nash fired last summer before a sit-down with Marks and Tsai convinced the four-time NBA scoring champion to relent and return to Brooklyn.
Irving eventually demanded a trade last month, and when the Nets shipped the mercurial point guard to Dallas, Durant followed suit in requesting a move.
It was handled quietly and discreetly, and Durant was dealt to Phoenix.
James Harden (1) forced his way to the 76ers last season. APAt that point, whispers around the league began to pick up in volume that Marks’ job could be a jeopardy.
Instead, Marks’ acquisition from the Suns of Mikal Bridges — a rising young gem whom Phoenix had been adamantly against parting with this past summer — will be the centerpiece of the Nets’ retooling.
Bridges is averaging 25.5 points on sterling 52.6/48.1/92.2 shooting splits as a Net, the first player in league history to score 25 points on 50/40/90 shooting splits through his first 10 games with a new team.
Marks arrived during the 2015-16 season and took over not just the league’s worst team, but also its most dire circumstance.
Mikal Bridges (1) is turning into a foundational piece for the post-Big 3 Nets. Robert Sabo for the NY PostThe Nets were bereft of draft picks.
But Marks built a playoff foundation that attracted Durant and Irving, and now Bridges is developing into the kind of young standout who can be a running mate for the next star the Nets will target.
The Nets also have the fourth-most draft capital from 2023-29: A total of 11 first-round picks and eight second-rounders (some from the Suns, 76ers and Mavericks), as well as a team-record $18 million trade exception, currently the biggest in the NBA.
Marks has already proven capable of building the Nets into contenders — he found gems Joe Harris and Spencer Dinwiddie, plus drafted Jarrett Allen and Nic Claxton — so he has shown he’s not daunted by hard work or tough situations.
“Yeah, this is — I wouldn’t say it’s become commonplace in the NBA — but it seems to be more of that trajectory where the continuity of, say, the Spurs teams of the past or even some of those Celtics or Lakers where there’s a lot of continuity over the years is definitely a rarity in the league,” Harris told The Post. “Milwaukee is one of the few where they keep a large part of their roster together.
“And in my time here, even in the early years, we still had tons of turnover. But for Sean, he’s always made the most of the situation, whether that’s free agents coming and going.
“I feel like just genuinely across the board, he brings in sort of like-minded people where there’s a level of just humility, togetherness, unity, where, you’re trying to play and do stuff the right way.
“And that’s been a pretty consistent theme since I’ve been in Brooklyn.”





