LAS VEGAS _ For three years, Nets general manager Sean Marks laid the groundwork to have the salary-cap room to be competitive at the top level of the 2019 free-agent market while coach Kenny Atkinson developed the complementary pieces to attract star players. So imagine their shared horror while watching Kevin Durant suffer a ruptured right Achilles tendon during Game 5 of the NBA Finals in June.
Marks and Atkinson spoke to the media for the first time on Tuesday about the Nets' recent acquisitions of Durant, Kyrie Irving and DeAndre Jordan, and they admitted their angst about seeing Durant go down with an injury that likely will cost him the entire 2019-20 season.
"I'm watching the game, and to see anybody go down and get hurt that's devastating," Marks said. "To happen at that moment, that time, irrespective of free agency ... Now, I'd be lying, too, if I said it didn't bother us at all. We were all taken aback. Now, we've got to dig into what does that look like for our franchise?"
