It is a maxim among Brooklyn Nets fans that Sean Marks will make a move at the Draft. Either a couple of days before Adam Silver takes the podium or a couple days after, the Nets GM has been active. Eight times in his nine years running the Nets, he’s made deals both big and small.
Some were transformative like last year’s trades with the Houston Rockets and New York Knicks or the Clean Sweep or Brook Lopez and Kyle Kuzma for the Lakers D’Angelo Russell. Others were small, like a salary dump to find extra space for the acquisition of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. But two nights stand out when looking at the potential for June 25-26 at Barclays Center.
In 2016, on the morning of his first Draft as GM, Marks traded Thaddeus Young, one of his only NBA quality players for the 20th pick in the first round which became Caris LeVert. Then in the second, he used several million dollars of Mikhail Prokhorov’s billions to move up 13 places in the second round to take local product Isaiah Whitehead.
Five years later, the Nets seemed locked into Day’Ron Sharpe at No. 27, then in the early evening of the Draft, they traded Landry Shamet to the Suns for Jevon Carter and the 29th pick, permitting them to draft not only Sharpe, but Cam Thomas as well.
Why do they resonate now with Brooklyn owning the rights to the 8th, 19th, 26th, 27th and 26th picks in what is seen as generational draft that has the added benefit of being deep? Because at least fans were disappointed in the Nets draft position, falling from the sixth best odds to the eighth, putting them out of the range for many top prospects.
So, with that in mind, the trade machine gears are grinding and more than one pundit believes he has the solution: trading up. Time to work the phones, Mr. Marks?
In the last two days, two reporters who cover the Nets have offered their takes on the possibility of yet another big move.
In the scenarios, offered by Steve Lichtenstein on Friday and Erik Slater on Thursday follow a proscribed path: Cam Johnson is seen as the ideal piece for any draft deal. The 6’8” forward is coming off this best season, not just in terms of stats, but in terms of his expanding games. He might be someone a contender could be interested, the final piece.
Lichtenstein offered his thoughts on his Steve’s Newsletter substack. While as we’ve noted before, a number of people think using CJ as a lure to attract the 76ers into a deal where the Nets deal Johnson and one or two or three of their five picks for the No. 3 pick and some of the onerous contracts weighing down whatever playoff hopes there still exist in Philly.
Lichtenstein asks why “waste” all that capital on the “flawed Ace Bailey” or V.J. Edgecombe. Instead, he suggests that Brooklyn and Marks think bigger. Go for the No. 2 pick and everyone’s second most likely sure thing, Bailey’s Rutgers teammate, Dylan Harper!
San Antonio already boasts 2023 All-Star De’Aaron Fox and 2025 Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle to act as primary ballhandlers. Even if Chris Paul walks in free agency, is Harper the best fit they can conceive with such a prime pick?
If I were in charge of both clubs, I might consider the following:
Nets get: No. 2 overall, Keldon Johnson
Spurs get: Cam Johnson, No. 8 and No. 27, and a 2026 second rounder
Johnson, who has two years and a reasonable $43 million left on his team, seems very Spurish, thinks Lichtenstein. “a high-IQ, three-level scorer that has NBA Finals experience” (with the Suns.) Harper, on the other hand, would give the Nets a lead guard for the future and one with star quality (and a New York area home address.)
Slater of Clutch Points — the only beat writer to actually attend the NBA Draft Combine, notes that B.J. Johnson, the Nets assistant GM and the man in direct charge of the Nets Draft the past five years, hinted about the possibility of trades in his appearance in SCOUT, the Nets docuseries on the Draft.
“The draft is so unpredictable. You never know what’s gonna happen,” Slater quotes Johnson from SCOUT. “Picks get traded, players get traded, situations change constantly. So you have to approach the draft the exact same way. Gathering all the intel, being able to understand who a player is and who he will be for your organization.”
That quote may indeed be general — and it was recorded last September, but Slater like Lichtenstein, thinks the Nets would benefit from at least considering a move up the board. Like Lichtenstein, Harper is a big prize but he writes as well about the Philly pick at No. 3 and its intriguing position going forward.
Philadelphia is juggling two timelines after performing well below expectations during an injury-ravaged 2024-25 campaign. One revolves around 31-year-old Joel Embiid and 35-year-old Paul George, while the other centers on 24-year-old Tyrese Maxey and 21-year-old Jared McCain. If Daryl Morey is hell-bent on maximizing Embiid’s title window, he could use the No. 3 pick to acquire win-now pieces rather than waiting several years for a 19-year-old to develop.
Beyond those scenarios there are others not involving players or salary dumps, perhaps packaging, aka consolidating the Nos. 8 and 19 to move up a little higher.
Of course as Lichtenstein writes, this is all done without the benefit of insider knowledge, in other words, it’s “fun speculation.”
Who do Marks and Johnson like? Don’t know. Who have they fallen in love with, if anyone? Don’t know. What other scenarios might they consider, perhaps bundling some of their future picks? Don’t know.
At this point, it’s a pretty good bet their heart’s desire is one of these players, putting aside Cooper Flagg who the Mavericks aren’t even thinking of parting with. There’s Harper and Bailey, Edgecombe, Tre Johnson, Jeremiah Fears, Kon Knueppel, Noa Essengue or Khaman Maluach. That’s nine players. So one of them is almost certainly going to be available if the Nets hold on to the eighth pick. That’s not a bad way of looking at things. And of course, Marks and Johnson may look at their five picks and think, this is a deep draft; we’re bound to come away with a lot of talent.
It’s academic for now, but whent the Sean Marks Trade Zone opens on June 23, don’t be surprised if things happen... again.