Nets' Sean Marks addresses team's free-agency approach this offseason

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NEW YORK -- The Brooklyn Nets are now in the beginning of an offseason that will be promising for them based on their four first-round picks in the upcoming 2025 NBA Draft along with their amount of cap space. More than half of the players who took the floor for Brooklyn during the 2024-25 season will be free-agents, meaning that the franchise could look considerably different next September.

"I think we need to be opportunistic. In this market, we're always going to have various different free agents and opportunities thrown at us, just simply being in a top-five market in the league; that's going to happen," Nets general manager Sean Marks said during his exit interview on Monday. Not only could Brooklyn bring in as many as five rookies for next season, but they also could have as much as $91.8 million in projected cap space to use in free-agency, by far the most of the league.

"We don't want to get sped up. We've talked multiple times about being systematic and strategic in how we build here," Marks continued. "We know we have 15 first round picks in the next six, seven years; so there's a lot of draft assets at stake. There's a lot of cap room at stake. And how we use that, it's probably too early to determine. But as you mentioned, there’s a variety of different pathways we can go on."

One of the main topics that has been discussed amongst Nets fans and NBA pundits alike is how the Nets choose to navigate the rebuild in a market like New York City. There have been reports that even after the failure of the Big 3 of Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving, Marks and governor Joe Tsai could still consider accelerating the rebuild by going after a star-level player, such as Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.

After the Nets chose to trade Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks along with getting some of their own picks back from the Houston Rockets prior to this season, many around the NBA expected Brooklyn to fully commit to their rebuild, especially with Duke forward Cooper Flagg expected to be the first overall pick in the upcoming draft. Marks seems to recognize that patience will be key during this rebuild while also remaining flexible enough to pounce on an opportunity.

"It's just about being opportunistic as to how we build and when we go all in again, so to speak," Marks explained. "And that could be going all in with whether it's free agents or trades, but it also could be go all-in with systematically growing some homegrown talent. And we've done that in the past and grown some guys here, developed some guys here as well as has attracted top tier talent from elsewhere."

This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets' Sean Marks addresses team's free-agency approach this offseason

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