Over the course of about three weeks, general manager Sean Marks turned over nearly half of the Brooklyn Nets roster, while at the same time keeping the team's young core together and maintaining significant salary cap flexibility for the summer of 2019. He also added a first-round pick (with protections) for 2019, potentially giving the team two first-round selections next summer.
The latest move, dealing recently acquired Darrell Arthur to Phoenix for Jared Dudley and a 2021 protected second-round pick, continued to add picks to the Brooklyn portfolio.
Relative to their end-of-season roster, the Nets will be bringing back their top eight scorers, and eight of their top nine by ESPN.COM's player efficiency rating (PER), which measures a player's comprehensive impact by incorporating multiple statistics. The new acquisitions will fortify the team's depth, particularly in the frontcourt.
Let's take a look at the GM's offseason work so far, beginning with the seven new players he's acquired:
ADD: ED DAVIS
The free agent center will bring size, toughness and veteran presence to the Brooklyn frontcourt. At 6-10 and 240 pounds, Davis becomes in the second-tallest player on the roster and offers a bigger presence in the backup center role. Defensive rebounding and second-chance points allowed were an issue for the Nets last season, and Davis has averaged at least 10 rebounds per 36 minutes in all but one of his eight NBA seasons, when he averaged 9.8 in 2013-14.
ADD: SHABAZZ NAPIER
Napier replenishes the depth at point guard following the trade of Jeremy Lin. The fifth-year pro is coming off his strongest season, with career highs of 74 games, 8.7 points, 2.0 assists, and 2.3 rebounds. He also shot 37.6 percent from 3-point range. Napier counts Nets teammates Allen Crabbe and Davis as former teammates in Portland.
ADD: TREVEON GRAHAM
The 6-foot-5 swingman has steadily improved over his three-year pro career, spending his first season in the G League, playing sparingly for the Hornets as an NBA rookie, and then seeing his playing time double last season. Graham shot 41.2 percent from 3-point range on 1.5 attempts per game last season, and at 235 pounds with a 6-11 wingspan, has a solid defensive reputation and the ability to defend bigger players.
ADD: KENNETH FARIED
Like Davis, Faried brings a rabid rebounder to the Brooklyn frontcourt. The 6-8, 228-pounder has averaged 8.2 rebounds and 11.4 points per game over seven seasons and never averaged fewer than 11.3 rebounds per 36 minutes.
ADD: JARED DUDLEY
Dudley joins Graham in bringing some 3-point shooting and floor spacing to the table. Over 11 pro seasons, Dudley has shot 39.6 percent from 3-point range. At 6-7 and 225 pounds, Dudley brings some positional versatility on the wing and potentially some shooting to the power forward spot.
ADD: DZANAN MUSA & RODIONS KURUCS
On draft night, Marks opted for two European youngsters. Musa, 19, and Kurucs, 20, both have three years of professional experience playing in Europe. Both are 6-foot-9 wings.
KEEP: JOE HARRIS
The Nets reached a quick agreement with their free agent swingman. Harris has improved steadily over his two seasons with the team and really took off in the second half of the 2017-18 season. Over his final 44 games, Harris shot 46.7 percent from 3-point range and finished the season with career highs of 10.8 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.6 assists, a 49.1 field goal percentage and an 82.7 free throw percentage. He's also grown into a stronger defender and finisher at the rim on drives, widely respected by his teammates for his work ethic and professionalism.
SUBTRACT: JEREMY LIN
Injuries ruined Lin's two-year stint in Brooklyn, which ended up limited to a total of 37 games, including just one during the 2017-18 season after he ruptured the patellar tendon in his knee on opening night.
SUBTRACT: TIMOFEY MOZGOV
The 7-1 center was acquired in the D'Angelo Russell deal and started the first 13 games of the 2017-18 season, but played an increasingly limited role as the year wore on.
SUBTRACT: ISAIAH WHITEHEAD
A second-round draft pick acquired by the Nets on draft night in 2016, Whitehead started 26 games as a rookie, but appeared in just 16 games last season, spending much of the year in the G League with the Long Island Nets.
SUBTRACT: QUINCY ACY & DANTE CUNNINGHAM
Acy spent two years in Brooklyn, while Cunningham was acquired in a mid-season trade last year. The two veterans brought floor spacing to the frontcourt with their shooting range and soaked up most of the backup center minutes last season after the trade of Tyler Zeller.
SUBTRACT: JAHLIL OKAFOR & NIK STAUSKAS
Okafor and Stauskas were acquired in December along with a second-round pick in exchange for Trevor Booker, but neither seized a consistent role. Stauskas signed with Portland, while Okafor is an unrestricted free agent.
SUBTRACT: MILTON DOYLE & JAMES WEBB
Doyle and Webb completed the 2017-18 season on two-way contracts, playing 10 games each in Brooklyn. The team has renounced its rights to both players.
DRAFT PICKS
Plenty of draft picks moved around in the four trades Marks made. The Nets acquired a protected first rounder in 2019, two second rounders in 2020 (Denver and Portland via Atlanta protected) and one more in 2021 (Phoenix, protected). They traded second rounders in 2018, 2021 and 2025 and gave Atlanta the right to swap second rounders in 2023.
The Nets also acquired the draft rights to Isaia Cordinier, a 2016 Atlanta second-round pick who is currently playing professionally in his native France.