Oh, my! Did the Nets really do what they just did?! Well, yes, they did.
Not long ago, Nets general manager Sean Marks and Nets owner Joe Tsai were the toast of town and the NBA for executing cap room and convincing Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving to sign with the Nets. Fast-forward to now, and Marks and Tsai have made themselves and the Nets a laughingstock after Durant and Irving imploded to the point where both had to be traded.
The thought was that this was the lowest point in franchise history. But wait….
The Nets basketball boss one-uped himself the other day when he traded Mikal Bridges to the Knicks for five first-round picks (four unprotected in 2025, 2027, 2029, and 2031), a protected first-round pick from the Milwaukee Bucks in 2025, a second-round pick in 2025, a protected pick swap in 2028 and Bojan Bogdanovic.
For the Nets to trade their best player to the Knicks is embarrassing enough. To help aid the Knicks in their championship goal by handing Bridges to them is hard to deal with. Imagine the Mets trading Pete Alonso to the Yankees before or on the day of the trade deadline. That would be tough to take, and it should be tough to take for what the Nets did. Of course, no one in town will savage Marks and Tsai for this trade. They’re celebrated for helping the Knicks. This happens when the Nets don’t have a fanbase, and the local media ignores them.
The only media member in town who expressed outrage is WFAN’s Evan Roberts, a Nets fan. It’s hard to take him seriously since he doesn’t have the gravitas to be an influencer like Mike Francesa. When Roberts goes off, people laugh at him. The national media doesn’t care about the Nets, either.
Nets beat writer Brian Lewis of the New York Post mentioned the Nets made a move to start rebuilding and tanking for the No. 1 pick in next year’s draft, which features Cooper Flagg, Ace Bailey, Dylan Harper, Nolan Traore, AJ Dybantsa, and Cameron Boozer. Whatever.
If this team was going to rebuild, Tsai should have fired Marks this offseason and hired someone competent to oversee the rebuilding process. Besides, Marks had plenty of chances to rebuild, but he failed. He has drafted young talent, but they have not elevated the Nets. This itself is why he should have been fired.
No one will confuse him for the late Jerry West or Tim Connelly. Not only can he not identify talent, but he is also a poor team builder. He has never found the right coach to develop the players, and the Nets never developed a culture under his watch. It is a hard sell to trust Marks to get it right when he has never done so.
There’s no guarantee the Nets will win the lottery next year. The Detroit Pistons tanked for Victor Wembanyama last season, and they were awarded the No. 5 pick that had them drafting a project in Ausar Thompson instead. The San Antonio Spurs ended up with Wembanyama.
Tanking for a high pick is risky, and there’s no guarantee Marks will find the right player. This is why there should be questions about this Nets plan. The Nets tried to tank for John Wall in 2010 by going 12-70. It backfired when they were rewarded with the No. 3 pick. They drafted Derrick Favors and traded him to the Utah Jazz for Deron Williams, a bust and a malcontent. At least Wall turned out to be a bust by being a decent player rather than a franchise player.
Also, the Knicks’ picks likely mean nothing since they will be an elite team. It’s hard to think Mark can find a diamond in the rough when he never found one in the first place.
This is also a bad look for Marks and Tsai because they couldn’t sell Bridges on being a core player for the Nets. One can’t help but wonder if the new Knick tanked for the Nets when he was acquired for Durant last year. Moreover, Bridges’s bullying of the Nets’ brain trust to trade him to the Knicks should raise plenty of questions about Marks’ leadership.
Also, why would the young players feel confident that the Nets are the place to be for them to grow into productive players? They could try to force themselves not to play for that troubled organization. There are plenty of questions and not enough answers.
What about Marks and Tsai, who inspire confidence that it will improve? It’s bad enough that they must live up to a legacy of seeing Durant and Irving flop. It’s even worse that they will be credited with the Knicks’ winning a championship if that materializes. They could get away with it since no one cares in town.
The Nets are not better today and may not improve in five years.
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