Sean Marks Says Nets Won’t Use More Cap Space

Having played in their first preseason game, a 123-88 win over Hapoel Jerusalem, the Brooklyn Nets' offseason has officially wrapped.

General Manager Sean Marks and the rest of Brooklyn's front office masterfully used their enormous amount of cap space to continue building the team's future rather than chasing big-time free agents, a decision that directly led to the additions of Michael Porter Jr., Terance Mann, Haywood Highsmith, Drake Powell, and Kobe Bufkin.

At Nets media day, Marks appeared to shut down any idea of the franchise continuing to seek out such deals, but ESPN's Bobby Marks—a former Brooklyn assistant GM—believes that could be false

"The Nets have preliminarily reached the minimum salary requirement (a team has to spend 90% of the salary cap by the first day of the regular season), but are still a team to monitor before the start of the season," Marks wrote on Monday.

"Brooklyn could fall under the minimum salary floor by waiving Jalen Wilson, Tyrese Martin and Drew Timme. The Nets already have 15 players on guaranteed contracts, and the three aforementioned players have a combined $6.2 million in non-guaranteed salary."

Regardless of the outcome, which route should Brooklyn's longtime GM follow?

Marks should approach the prospect of another salary dump as such: don't actively search, but don't rule out the idea. If a rival team pays him a call asking for the organization to take on a bloated contract while getting compensated for doing so, obviously he has to entertain the offer. But that doesn't mean Marks himself has to be the one working the phones.

The Nets reached a similar point last season where "everyone" was available for trade depending on the return package. It's hard to imagine the franchise being in anything but the same position, just from the opposite stadpoint. Brooklyn should be open to trading for "everyone," as long as said player is on a contract it can realistically take on—and the return value is present.

In these still very early stages of their rebuild, the Nets can't close themselves off from anything. Until the team has its franchise face surrounded by a high-potential supporting cast that's ready to compete in the Eastern Conference, Brooklyn can't really afford to "not intend" on using its remaining salary cap.

Which is exactly why ESPN's Marks doesn't believe the Nets GM is truly done dealing. Time will tell, obviously, but the lack of intention should be viewed as "subject to change."