Nets Close To Extension With GM Billy King?

10:41am: A league source recently told NetsDaily’s Robert Windrem that the Nets and King hadn’t engaged in extension talks (Twitter link).

10:01am: There are “serious rumblings” that the Nets are about to reach a contract extension with GM Billy King, though Nets higher-ups have been tight-lipped, Grantland’s Zach Lowe writes. King signed a multiyear extension with the team two years ago, and while the length of the arrangement wasn’t clear at the time, he currently has one more year left on his contract, according to Devin Kharpertian of The Brooklyn Game.

Owner Mikhail Prokhorov stopped short of saying last month he would rule out changes in the front office this summer, but he offered praise for King’s “bold” approach to the roster. Instead, it would appear that the future of assistant GM Bobby Marks is in doubt, as Mike Mazzeo reported last week and as Lowe notes in his report today, referring to Marks as a “cap whiz.” The team didn’t pick up its option on Marks, who’s risen within the Nets organization from the role of public relations intern 20 years ago, by the May 1st deadline to do so, according to Mazzeo, though the club could still re-sign the executive later in the offseason, Mazzeo cautioned.

King has drawn criticism as the Nets have failed to capitalize on bloated payrolls the last two seasons, including the record outlay of some $190MM in payroll and luxury tax penalties last season. Still, the Nets have been supportive of King, resisting former coach Jason Kidd‘s  attempt to wrest player personnel control from the GM.