Simply put, there must be repercussions for squandering Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden, three first-ballot Hall of Famers, All-NBA players, and All-Stars.
Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks signed Durant and Irving in free agency in the summer of 2019, giving up zero assets to acquire two of the best players in the league at the time, including Durant, who was hot off winning two championships with the Golden State Warriors and was the top free agent. Then they flipped the talented young core and draft picks into Harden, who was one of the most lethal scorers in the history of the NBA and looking to team up with Durant and Irving to form a super team that had the star power of the Miami Heat “Heatles” of LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.
The Brooklyn Nets’ Big 3 only lasted a year before Harden had enough of the institutional chaos enabled by Marks, which allowed Irving to have carte blanche on when he would or wouldn’t play. Harden was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers, with the Nets returning the enigmatic Ben Simmons, Seth Curry, Andre Drummond, and two first-round picks. Only Curry is a current contributor, as Drummond is long gone, and Simmons appears never to want to play basketball again.
How Brooklyn Nets botched Big 3 opportunity
And Durant and Irving? They both asked out, too, when they got tired of the chaos they started and were allowed to fester by Marks and Brooklyn Nets’ owner Joe Tsai’s ineptitude.
Kevin Durant is now in Phoenix, Kyrie Irving in Dallas. And the Nets roster is filled with young players, just like before they traded the farm to create their faux super trio. The trio only played just 16 games together. What an irony. As of now, Steve Nash has been the only person held responsible for the complete and utter failure the Brooklyn Nets have become. Nash was fired earlier this season
after he lost the trust of Irving and Durant and was replaced with assistant Jacque Vaughn.
But Nash’s firing isn’t enough. More heads need to roll. And Marks, who has held the job since 2016, overseeing the seismic demise of the Nets as a competitive franchise, needs to be held accountable as well. Marks has had seven years to build a contender, which amounts to a lifetime in a front-office role in the NBA. Russian oligarch Mikhail Prokhorov initially hired Marks, who was then empowered when Tsai took over to build the next NBA super team. Except he did it by reversing the methodology that made them an attractive franchise to begin with.
The Brooklyn Nets became competitive through the draft, making the playoffs in 2019, losing to the Philadelphia 76ers in the first round. But they showed huge potential around the growth of their young core, which at the time consisted of Jarrett Allen, Spencer Dinwiddie, D’Angelo Russell, Caris LeVert, and Joe Harris.
Allen became an All-Star in Cleveland, playing alongside LeVert as the team’s sixth man. Russell, who made the All-Star team in his last year with the Nets, is thriving as the Lakers’ starting point guard. Only Harris has remained; Dinwiddie returned to the Nets in a cruel twist of irony in a February trade from the Dallas Mavericks.
That’s not to say the Nets didn’t receive good value from the Durant trades. They traded Irving for pennies on the dollar while depleting the Mavs of their heart and soul glue guy in Dorian Finney-Smith and second-leading scorer Dinwiddie. They also snagged their unprotected 2029 first-round pick. The off-the-court issues and optics around Irving had the Brooklyn Nets selling low. The Nets were unable to sign Irving to a long-term contract. Instead, Irving opted into the final year of his contract in Brooklyn last summer, creating a scenario where he could walk for nothing. Now he’s the Mavs’ problem, as the same doomsday scenario hangs over their heads this summer.
Irving was clearly in the wrong for being the NBA’s biggest distraction, but Tsai’s handling of the situation was just as embarrassing. Tsai issued a list of demeaning “to-do’s” for Irving to complete before returning to the court in November after Irving shared a link to an antisemitic film on social media. It was meant to humiliate Irving, forcing him to bend the knee, not to the group he offended but to the Nets organization.
The Durant trade netted the Nets a much better package. They received Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, and four unprotected future first-round picks. Crowder was rerouted to the Milwaukee Bucks, while Johnson, and especially Bridges, look like the Nets’ two best players. Bridges appear to have star potential as the focal point of the offense. The Nets will also control four of the Suns’ future draft picks, a premium as the 2027 and 2029 picks will presumably convey well after Chris Paul and Durant are either retired or on a different team, knowing Durant’s history.
While the package has the potential to be great in a few years, the here-and-now of the Nets subjugates them as one of the top poverty franchises in the league. And Marks is the top person responsible for the organizational ineptitude and chaos that’s festered over the last four seasons. He oversaw and allowed Irving issues around his vaccination refusal (his right), disappearing from the team for “personal reasons,” sharing disinformation on his social channels, not to mention his and Durant’s multiple trade requests. Not to mention, Nash, a Marks hire, was one of the worst coaches in the NBA. Marks mishandled it all at every turn.
To squander three players the caliber of Durant, Irving, and Harden — two of which walked into your franchise as free agents — without giving up a single asset is catastrophic. When you lose two MVPs and an NBA champion, heads should roll. Nash can’t be the only fall guy for the fallout of the last four seasons. Marks needs to be fired too.
What’s left of the Brooklyn Nets’ roster
The Brooklyn Nets have a revamped young core of Defensive Player of the Year candidate Nic Claxton, returning point guard stability in Dinwiddie, an emerging star in Bridges, shot makers in Johnson and Cam Thomas, and glue guy Finney Smith. They also have the worst contract and teammate in Simmons rotting on the bench. How they handle his contract, which has him owed an average of $36 million over the next two years, will be crucial. The team also holds a significant amount of draft assets through 2029, mainly from the Irving and Durant trades, including 11 first-round picks and eight second-round picks, good for the fourth-highest in the league. Additionally, the team holds an impressive $18 million trade exception, the largest in the NBA.
Reports have described Marks and Tsai as being “in lockstep.” This signals Marks will be retained, which is on brand for a franchise as dysfunctional as the Nets under the failed leadership of Tsai.
As they enter another rebuilding phase, Marks has not earned the right to oversee the Nets’ new collection of assets, draft picks, and young players. We’ve seen him botch this position before. Fire him and find someone you can trust to do a better job. Otherwise, the Brooklyn Nets are practicing the definition of insanity.
Lee Escobedo covers the NBA for Sportsnaut. You can follow him on Twitter at @_leeescobedo