Sean Marks has turned Brooklyn’s reset into something much more interesting than a clean rebuild. Since the summer of 2024, the Nets have started to look like a franchise with direction - young, skilled, and stable enough to matter now, not just later.
The turning point was Marks’ aggressive use of draft capital. He sent four first-round picks - 2025, 2027, and two conditional 2029 selections - to Houston in exchange for 2025 and 2026 firsts.
That move didn’t bring back a player, but it gave Brooklyn the ammo to keep shaping the roster. The payoff has already shown up in consecutive drafts, where the Nets landed Egor Dëmin eighth overall last year and Mikel Brown Jr. sixth overall this year.
Dëmin, heading into his second season, has taken a clear step forward. He’s added muscle, and that stronger frame has helped him become a more effective downhill driver.
In last Tuesday’s win over the Charlotte Hornets, he flashed that growth with a behind-the-back pass to Day’Ron Sharpe after attacking a sloppy closeout, getting two feet in the paint and forcing Hornets center Ryan Kalkbrenner to rotate. That kind of play was not part of his nightly package as a rookie, when most of his attempts came from deep.
Even so, he finished as the fifth-best rookie shooter, hitting 38.5% and burying 124 threes, which ranked fourth-best.
Brown hasn’t made his preseason debut yet, but the buzz around him keeps building. Donovan Mitchell, Marks, and Julius Randle have all praised the rookie, with the common thread being his IQ and his ability to run the pick-and-roll at a high level. Marks has also singled out Brown’s leadership, saying he doesn’t act like a rookie and is already planning team dinners.
That young core has been paired with a veteran who has changed the feel of the roster. Marks sent Nic Claxton, Brooklyn’s starting center, to the Chicago Bulls in a four-team deal to bring in Julius Randle, a 12-year veteran.
Randle has given the Nets’ offense a different gear, especially with his playmaking. He can push the pace in transition, create clean looks for teammates, and his chemistry with Michael Porter Jr. has already become one of the more encouraging parts of Brooklyn’s attack.
It all stands in stark contrast to where the franchise was not long ago. After Marks moved Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving during the 2023 trade deadline, Brooklyn finished 32-50 the next season and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2017-18. Now the organization looks far more balanced - young enough to grow, veteran enough to compete.
And Marks may not be done. He still has 13 first-round picks at his disposal, giving him the kind of flexibility that can lead to another swing at a superstar whenever the right deal appears.
In Other News...
Nets' Fast Start Is Giving Fans A Reason To Believe
Brooklyn kept its preseason roll going with a 131-122 win over the Wizards, moving to 3-0 while flashing the kind of offensive pace that can make October feel a little more meaningful. Michael Porter Jr. was a steady scoring presence, and the Nets got useful minutes from DayRon Sharpe, Egor Dmin, Keon Ellis and Julius Randle in a game that featured plenty of shot-making on both sides.
The part that stood out most was how Brooklyns second unit changed the feel of the game, helping the Nets separate in a third-quarter stretch that turned a back-and-forth matchup into a more comfortable finish. Preseason results rarely tell the whole story, but for a team trying to build habits and confidence, this was the kind of performance that gives fans something to watch a little more closely. [Read more 🡒]
Nolan Traor Is Turning Up The Heat In Brooklyns Guard Battle
Nolan Traor is starting to make his case the right way for Brooklyn, and preseason has given the rookie guard a chance to show how much his confidence has grown. In the win over Washington, he looked more comfortable as a scorer and a shooter, continuing a steady run of efficient offense over three exhibition games after spending the offseason working on his shot and his finishing.
For a Nets team that has made clear minutes have to be earned, that matters. The guard room is crowded, and Traor is trying to carve out space for himself while competing with Mikel Brown Jr., Egor Dmin and Ben Saraf, so every clean shooting night adds to the argument that he belongs in the mix when the games start to count. [Read more 🡒]
Nets May Have Found A Core Fit Sooner Than Anyone Expected
The preseason has offered a pretty encouraging look at the Brooklyn Nets, and a lot of that early momentum has come from the wing tandem of Julius Randle and Michael Porter Jr. Randle has leaned into a primary playmaking role while also giving the group some veteran steadiness, and Porter has been the kind of scorer who can change the feel of a game in a hurry. Through three exhibition wins, the fit has looked cleaner than many might have expected this early in the process.
What makes it matter for Brooklyn is not just the box score production, but the way the two seem to complement each other as the regular season nears. Randle has talked about helping the Nets contend, and if this early chemistry holds, the team may have stumbled onto something useful before the games start counting. The real question now is whether that preseason rhythm can survive once opponents spend more time game-planning for them. [Read more 🡒]