The Nets have offered their general manager job to San Antonio assistant GM Sean Marks.
The offer, confirmed by The Post through two league sources, was first reported by Yahoo Sports. Brooklyn’s initial interest in the 40-year-old New Zealander was first reported by The Post on Feb. 9.
Now it remains to be seen if Marks, considered a fast-riser, is interested enough to take on what promises to be a long and difficult rebuilding job in Brooklyn. And if he does, whom would he hire as a full-time coach?
Marks — who was drafted by the Knicks in 1998, and earned championship rings as both a player and assistant coach with the Spurs — is the latest protégé from the highly successful tree of Spurs coach Gregg Popovich and general manager R.C. Buford, success the Nets would love to replicate. Marks impressed Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov’s search committee in an interview a week-and-a-half ago.
It’s uncertain if Marks will accept the job, with the Nets just 14-40 and essentially bereft of draft picks. Bryan Colangelo, Denver assistant GM Arturas Karnisovas and Houston VP of basketball operations Gersson Rosas still could be candidates if no deal is reached. But at the moment, Marks has the job if he wants it.
Marks has drawn gushing praise from Popovich and a glowing recommendation from Buford, who is a close friend of Prokhorov advisor Sergey Kushchenko.
“He’s going to be a star,” Popovich told the San Antonio Express-News of Marks. “He really has a great feel for talent and has a great personality, really commands respect and gets along with people. He is going to have a bright future. We’ll have to kick him out of the door here pretty soon.”
Marks represented New Zealand in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics and the 2002 FIBA World Cup, and won the 2005 NBA title with the Spurs, despite starting just 11 games in 11 NBA seasons with six different teams.
After his playing career, Marks joined the Spurs front office. He moved from director of basketball operations and general manager of the D-League Austin Toros to the bench and won another ring in 2014 as an assistant to Popovich, then went back to the front office as the Spurs’ assistant GM.
That wide breadth of experience made him the only finalist with such a varied résumé. Now he’s the finalist who got offered the job, and it’s a tough one.
The Nets come out of the All-Star break with the third-worst record in the league, won’t have their own first-round pick until 2019 (Boston holds their 2016 and 2018 picks and the right to swap in 2017), and no guarantee their $40 million in cap space this summer will land the targets they want.
They also need a coach, with Tony Brown serving as interim since Lionel Hollins was fired on Jan. 10. Tom Thibodeau, Jeff Van Gundy and Spurs assistant Ettore Messina are all candidates. Messina is a logical choice, as he worked with Marks in San Antonio and coached Prokhorov’s CSKA Moscow team in Russia from 2005-09 and 2012-14.
Prokhorov is scheduled to attend the unveiling of the Nets’ new Brooklyn practice facility Wednesday in Industry City.
— Additional reporting by Fred Kerber