Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks laid out what’s in store for the organization this summer: the 2025 NBA Draft and free agency, both restricted and unrestricted.
“We know what’s at stake this year,” Marks said.
The Nets’ draft process will be run by assistant general manager B.J. Johnson, who Marks praised for doing “a heck of a job the last several years.” Johnson was previously Brooklyn’s director of player evaluation and is credited for playing a leading role in drafting Nic Claxton.
Prior to joining the team, he worked at USA Basketball, including a seven-year run as men’s national team assistant director. Johnson played Division-I basketball at Villanova. Marks said that the Nets’ assistant GM was “excited about what lays ahead.” The Nets have 31 draft picks — 15 firsts, 16 seconds — over the next seven years.
Marks has already said that the Nets will be “opportunistic” in their rebuild. He also addressed what Brooklyn will be evaluating in free agency.
“We’re looking at somebody that fits our culture,” he said. “Somebody that fits the Brooklyn grit that we’ve talked about, competitive, selfless, being part of something bigger than yourself and so forth.”
The Nets’ chief decision maker added that if the team goes all-in, it would be to compete and contend at the highest level. The sales pitch for prospective free agents and big stars “starts,” Marks said, with head coach Jordi Fernández.
Marks said: “They want a coach who’s upfront [and] honest with them and they feel that, to be quite frank, ‘he’s in it with us.’ It’s a competitive environment out there every day at practice, every shoot around. Jordi’s expecting and demanding the most from you, and nobody leaves that game, practice, shoot-around going, ‘I’m not sure where I stand’.”
If the Nets are active in this year’s free agent class, it will most likely be in the restricted market. That will mean making some in-house decisions, as well. Reece Beekman, Ziaire Williams, Cam Thomas and Day’Ron Sharpe will become restricted free agents this summer. Marks touched on the latter two, given that the Nets drafted them.
“It’s always great when you are able to draft somebody, like those two specifically, and then they get this opportunity,” Marks said about signing the players to their second NBA contracts. “So I look forward to the summer and look forward to those conversations with their agents, and we’ll see where it all plays out. but, I do think it’s important to be able to keep your homegrown talent.”
