Nets' Front Office Not Viewed Highly Among League Personnel

When analyzing a front office, a team's performance is a great indicator of how well the organization is performing, but it's not the end-all, be-all. In fact, many front offices receive praise from fans and analysts for deciding to go in the opposite direction and enter an organic rebuild.

The Brooklyn Nets, after years of trying to compete with superteams and acquired stars, decided to blow it up in the last few seasons. They've been slipping to the bottom of the NBA, stockpiling future assets in the process.

Right now, the Nets have 12 potential first-round picks from 2026 to 2032. In all of those drafts except for 2027 and 2029, they control their destiny (those two picks have swap rights attached). Even though the Kevin Durant-Kyrie Irving era was a disaster, Brooklyn managed to come out of it with a foundation, just recently drafting five rookies in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft.

So, given the organization's ability to set itself up for a natural rebuild, the front office should be viewed in high regard, right? The Athletic recently surveyed 36 league executives on which organization ranked in the top five of the league. Unfortunately, the Nets didn't just miss the pantheon; they couldn't even crack the first half of the NBA.

The top of the list was expected: the Oklahoma City Thunder, Boston Celtics, Houston Rockets, Miami Heat and Indiana Pacers have had short rebuilds, consistently being in title contention. Most of those organizations have rings to show for it.

Outside of those five, the rest of the top 10 are playoff or championship teams, but there were seven other teams that received praise from the anonymous executives.

Many of those organizations were from teams in the basement of the league, but the Nets were not featured. The Washington Wizards and Charlotte Hornets, who sit under Brooklyn in the current standings, received votes.

Because the Los Angeles Lakers, Memphis Grizzlies and Denver Nuggets also got votes, despite not being ranked, this essentially puts Brooklyn outside the top 20.

Fans have been criticizing GM Sean Marks and the rest of the front office ever since the Durant-Irving era ended. The Nets were weirdly competitive before finally deciding to push toward the top of the lottery. Even then, their draft decisions have been laughed at by personnel around the association.

If the Nets make more moves to emphasize the rebuild, or get out of it sooner than expected, perhaps Marks and company will get more praise. However, it's tough to see the front office as 'elite' right now.