Inside The Nets

Brooklyn Nets Front Office Ranked 12th-Best in the NBA: 'Smart But Unlucky'

After the Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline, CBS Sports has a new list of front office rankings.

Wilko Martinez Cachero

Feb 20, 2020; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks speaks with the media. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
Feb 20, 2020; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks speaks with the media. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images
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The Brooklyn Nets have the 12th-best front office in the NBA, according to CBS Sports’ league front office rankings released on Friday. 

The list considers all sorts of executives — general managers, scouts, cap managers, owners — as well as whether a front office has a plan in place, if a team is winning, if it hires good head coaches, if it drafts well, etc. The Nets are in the ranking’s fourth tier, titled ‘Smart but unlucky.’ 

The biggest reason for that? Kevin Durant, who just said last month that he loved his stint in Brooklyn. At the same time, it was the Nets’ acquisition of Durant and the subsequent evaporation of his big three with Kyrie Irving and James Harden that led the franchise to its current ongoing rebuild. 

CBS writes on the Nets’ fortunes: "If Kevin Durant's foot was a size or two smaller, the Nets probably would have won a championship in 2021. If New York doesn't institute a vaccine mandate, the Nets might have won a championship in 2022. Play out the last five years 10 times and in a few of them, the Nets likely build a mini dynasty. If you're going to blame Sean Marks for how the Durant era ended, then give him credit for it happening in the first place.” 

The list clearly values the job that general manager Sean Marks has done, and the Nets’ chief decision maker is in for a big summer. That starts with the 2025 NBA Draft. Brooklyn has never picked higher under Marks’ leadership since he joined the organization in 2016. The New Zealand-born executive is the NBA’s third-longest-tenured general manager, only behind the Miami Heat’s Andy Elisburg and the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Sam Presti.

CBS also praises Brooklyn for hiring Jordi Fernández, “even if he’s helped them win more games than they would have liked this season.” The first-year head coach has been very exciting in his rookie season, so to speak, and his Nets (20-35 as of Saturday morning) already outperformed their initial over/under of 19.5 wins.

Brooklyn is also praised for “consistently [finding] good role players late in the draft.” The Nets might deserve more praise than that, with recent draft picks including Caris LeVert (2016), Jarrett Allen (2017), Nic Claxton (2019), Cam Thomas (2021) or Noah Clowney (2023). Assistant GM B.J. Johnson, formerly the team’s director of college scouting and player evaluation, is also deeply involved in that draft process. 

Worth remembering: the Nets have 31 draft picks — 15 first round picks, 16 second-rounders — over the next seven years. As CBS writes, “a boatload of future draft picks to work with.” Brooklyn have four first-rounders this summer and are currently projected to start drafting at No. 7.

The Oklahoma City Thunder, Boston Celtics and San Antonio Spurs top CBS’ front office rankings. Teams in the same ‘Smart but unlucky’ tier as the Nets include the Philadelphia 76ers and LA Clippers.

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Wilko Martinez Cachero
WILKO MARTINEZ CACHERO

Wilko is a journalist and producer from Madrid, Spain. He is also the founder of FLOOR and CEILING on YouTube, focusing on the NBA Draft and youth basketball.

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