Brooklyn Nets Eye Role as Key Trade Facilitator in 2025 NBA Offseason

Instead of solely focusing on upgrading their roster this summer, the Brooklyn Nets are prepared to help other teams improve their talent levels.

The Nets and GM Sean Marks are eyeing scenarios where they could help facilitate trades as a third team, per Anthony Slater of The Athletic.

“There is not a current expectation that the Brooklyn Nets are preparing an offer sheet for [Jonathan] Kuminga, but there are signs Brooklyn could be willing to use its open cap space as a vehicle to execute multi-team trade scenarios this summer,” Slater reported on Thursday.

This is a tactic Marks relied on during his early days as Brooklyn's general manager—and it's exactly what helped him land a then-21-year-old D'Angelo Russell. Russell was traded from the Los Angeles Lakers to the Nets, along with Timofey Mozgov, who had signed a lucrative four-year, $64 million contract just the year prior.

Obviously the contract was a massive hindrance on the Lakers' flexibility, thus Marks stepped in and got compensated for taking on LA's blunder.

With Kuminga—the versatile Warriors wing that's headed for restricted free agency Slater mentioned—no longer a target, replicating his mid-2010s dealings could be very beneficial for Marks and Brooklyn.

As top teams desperately attempt to get under the second apron, the Nets could be viewed as heros for stepping in and helping to facilitate a big-time trade, all while being heavily compensated for their actions.

And in a draft class as loaded as 2025's, there'd be no better place to start than a team with a top pick who needs to shed some salary. The Philadelphia 76ers immediately come to mind, given they hold the third-overall selection and will likely be doing everything they can to get out from under Paul George this summer.

That's just one situation Marks could look to that would not only compensate him for facilitating the deal, but present the possibility of selecting one of Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey and V.J. Edgecombe, depending on how draft night shakes out.

While this is very shrewd by the Nets—assuming they pull it off—the prospect of adding Kuminga should still be something that Brooklyn closely monitors now in the month of June.