KD Trade Marks End Of Nets’ Superstar Era

USATSI

To quote “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy”, that escalated quickly.

It was only yesterday when I wrote in the aftermath of the Kyrie Irving trade that the Nets seemed to have switched places with Dallas, since all they had left from their 2019 foray into the Superstar Model was Kevin Durant and some nice, though not scary, pieces, like what the Mavs had before adding the mercurial Irving to Luka Doncic.

Well, after Wednesday night’s reported blockbuster that Durant was dealt to Phoenix, scratch that. It might be fair to now label Brooklyn as Utah East, a team devoid of the elite shot creators needed to reach the highest levels—and a franchise that will have a hard time attracting superstars in the near future.

In reality, this epic collapse from a team that had the highest of aspirations to one where the ceiling is reaching the play-in round was a long time in the making. Despite all the hype you have read about the Sean Marks era, the organization has had its fair share of dysfunction—and not all of it was related to Irving’s antics.

Before I rant further, it’s important to emphasize the nuance here. The Nets General Manager hasn’t been all bad, nor has he been all fantastic. No one can dispute Marks’ record of transforming one of the worst situations in NBA history in February 2016 into a desirable program that was able to lure the highest class free agents in three years. Marks has had remarkable success with late draft picks, with scoring guard Cam Thomas the most recent incarnation.

Like any GM, he’s had a fair share of misses too, and he has struggled in configuring a complete team, often leaving it materially undersized. It was far simpler to add talent and then “let Kenny (Atkinson) figure it out” than it was to give his stars the proper supporting cast they needed. The Nets still are rolling with just one legitimate NBA center (Nic Claxton) on their roster.

The James Harden flip—emptying his asset cupboard of his most marketable young players and future draft picks to acquire the superstar point guard from Houston and then trading him to Philadelphia a year later for a far lesser package that included the physically and emotionally fragile Ben Simmons and his untradeable max contract—will be compared by NBA historians to the Nets infamous Kevin Garnett/Paul Pierce disaster of 2013.

Since Simmons is on a designated rookie extension, Marks was limited as to what he could take back in the Irving and Durant trades (with veterans Markieff Morris and T,J. Warren also shipped off to Dallas and Phoenix, respectively) as each team is only allowed to roster one such player. At this point, Brooklyn’s take from those deals is: Spencer Dinwiddie, Dorian Finney-Smith, Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, five first-round picks, a 2028 first-round pick swap with Phoenix, and two second-round picks from Dallas. None of the first-rounders has been deemed protected, per reports.

Before you view that as “a haul” understand that it will be years before the Nets regain any legitimacy as a title threat—and that’s only if they can turn those assets into more productive NBA players, which isn’t always a given.

And then there’s the matter of keeping a team together. The Marks era has been plagued by constant turnover, be it players or coaches. I can’t remember a title-contending franchise that has had so many players begging to be moved, from superstars Durant, Harden, and Irving to nonessential role players like Paul Millsap and Morris. Not that I take anything Irving says to heart, but there was some truth to his comment that he was “just glad that (Durant) got out of there.”

At some point, Nets owner Joseph Tsai will need to take a deep dive as to why this keeps happening under Marks’ watch. From what I have gathered, Marks is a bit of a control freak, which is why he has always selected head coaches he could easily control. Atkinson, who was fine as a development guru, was a first-time head coach while Steve Nash was a first-time anything coach, making this crucial hire doomed to fail. Even current Head Coach Jacque Vaughn, who in my opinion has done a very good job under adverse circumstances, owes his career to Marks.

Not once did Marks entertain the concept of hiring a strong head coach who had his own ideas as to how to win in the NBA like Tyronn Lue or Tom Thibodeaux—retaining full power was always the higher priority.

The result was that the inmates pretty much ran the asylum, and now the most recognizable ones have escaped. The Nets, who will forever be the stepchild in a city that regales the Knicks, are now back to their familiar irrelevancy status.

It stinks, but Nets fans are used to change coming at them fast.