Last summer, the Nets signaled a clear plan for the next two years: Try to stay competitive while staying under the luxury tax line, then use that financial flexibility and their boatload of draft assets to shoulder their way back into the league’s top tier starting in the summer of 2025.
The first part of that plan has not gone as well as they hoped; at 20-31, the slumping Nets are two games out of the last Eastern Conference play-in spot. Nonetheless, their modest trade deadline deals underline Sean Marks’s commitment to the strategy. It is a plan that many fans dislike, but it is their plan and they’re stickin’ to it.