NEW YORK -- The Brooklyn Nets ended the 2025-26 NBA season with a lowly 20-62 record, leaving them with another high first-round pick following the kind of losing campaign that most people checked out from well before the season ended. Brooklyn came into the 2026 offseason with the goal of improving the roster amidst the current rebuild and general manager Sean Marks had more to say on the direction of the franchise.
"I think it's exciting that we've been able to add this youth to this team, watch these guys develop. Last season [was] for them to get real meaningful minutes in real games," Marks said during his Media Day press conference on Monday. While the Nets added veteran forward Julius Randle to a roster with veteran sharpshooter Michael
Porter Jr. leading the way, some of the focus will also be on the younger players on the team this season.
"That's the best motivation you can possibly ask for, right? When they go into the summer, they say, 'Well, okay, this is what it feels like in an NBA game.' The guys are bigger, stronger, faster, more physical, and so forth," Marks continued. "So, I don't think the particular group of rookies from last year and the year before, need a whole lot more motivation than that."
Porter and Randle will be the leaders of one of the youngest teams in the league both on and off the court, but the goal of the rebuild is to identify the players that can take the Nets into the next phase of the organization. Guard Egor Demin, the No. 8 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, and guard Mikel Brown Jr., the No. 6 overall pick in the 2026 draft, will likely be the starting backcourt on opening night and that's great news for Brooklyn.
Regardless of how many games the Nets end up winning this season, the main goal will be everyone getting better each day as the team strives to be ready to compete for the playoffs as soon as possible. Marks has made it clear multiple times since this rebuild began that patience of one of the hallmarks of this reset and the younger players improving will definitely allow the front office to remain patient until winning time comes.
This article originally appeared on Nets Wire: Nets' Sean Marks speaks on opportunity to be had this NBA season
