The Nets have hired Sean Marks as their GM, the team announced via press release. Marks leaves his job as Spurs assistant GM. He has a four-year contract with Brooklyn, league sources told Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo Sports. Brooklyn had apparently been upping its offer in negotiations late Wednesday, after Marks reportedly turned down the job. The Spurs reportedly envisioned him eventually taking a greater role in their organization and wanted him to stay, but Marks instead joins the Nets on trade deadline day.
“After an exhaustive vetting process, we are delighted to have Sean as our general manager,” Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov said in Brooklyn’s statement. “His experience on the court, in coaching and management gives him a 360 degree view of the job at hand. His background helping to build one of the greatest teams in the NBA gives him an unparalleled frame of reference. And he impressed us all with his vision, his values, his personality and his enthusiasm for the club. The vote to select him from an incredible list of talent was unanimous. We welcome Sean into our Nets family and look forward to his strong leadership and independent thinking as we build our own success story.”
Marks takes the reigns from assistant GM Frank Zanin, who’d been running the front office since the team removed Billy King from the job last month. It’s unclear just how much say Marks will have in Brooklyn’s decision-making today with the 2pm Central time trade deadline only hours away.
“I am very excited to be named the general manager of the Brooklyn Nets, and to become a member of the vibrant and dynamic organization that represents Brooklyn,” Marks said, according to the Nets’ press release. “I would like to thank Nets’ ownership for giving me this opportunity, and I look forward to the challenge of creating a unified culture and building a winning team.”
Prokhorov denied on Wednesday that he’d offered the job to Marks, as had been reported, joking that he’d never heard of him. The owner raised the idea of taking another week to make a hire, casting doubt on the idea that the Nets wanted to have a GM in place before the deadline.
Spurs assistant coach Ettore Messina reportedly has a strong chance to fill the Nets’ head coaching vacancy now that Marks is in Brooklyn, but the Nets apparently planned on making whomever they’d hire as GM only one part of a committee that will choose the next coach. The same committee was in charge of the GM search, with Nuggets assistant GM Arturas Karnisovas reportedly next in line had Marks not agreed to take the job, with Rockets executive Gersson Rosas and former Suns and Raptors GM Bryan Colangelo also among those who had been in the final mix.
Marks, 40, had a 12-year NBA playing career that ended with the 2010/11 season. He joined the Spurs organization the next season, and he’s served them in multiple front office and coaching capacities.