Sean Marks says Kevin Durant a 'very loud voice' in Nets' future plans

Kevin Durant won’t be on the court when the Nets resume the season in Orlando this month. But he’ll be closely connected to the team during the games as well as connected to the organization about the decisions that will come in the offseason.

“He continues to be a very loud voice in terms of where we’re going in the future and what we’re doing and I involve him like the other players and staff and how we’ll continue to build this team and how we move forward,” Nets GM Sean Marks said on a conference call with reporters on Wednesday.

Marks has consistently said that Durant, Kyrie Irving and other players will be involved in organizational decisions, so the thoughts he shared on Wednesday weren’t anything out of the ordinary.

But the Nets have several big decisions to make in the offseason, including deciding on their next head coach and how to shape the roster for 2020-21, when Durant and Irving are expected to share the floor for the first time as Nets.

Marks said on Wednesday that he’s been in touch with Durant regularly since the season was suspended in March due to coronavirus. Durant was one of the Nets who tested positive for the virus.

“I’ve seen him numerous times over the summer and watched the rehabilitation process and watched him getting back out there and so forth,” Marks said. “Look, I don’t want to speak for him but he seemed to be in good spirits. He’s obviously aware of everything that’s going on whether it’s pandemic and some of the issues going on in society. We’ve had great conversations about all of that.

“…He’s always said he’s looking forward to getting on the court in Barclays,” Marks added. “And I think all of us on this call, myself included, everybody in the organization is looking forward to that time as well.”

Marks touched on several other topics on the Zoom call, including:

STATUS OF DINWIDDIE, IRVING 

Marks confirmed that Spencer Dinwiddie may not be playing in Orlando because he recently tested positive for coronavirus. Dinwiddie, who remains on the Nets’ 36-person travel list, told The Athletic that he is not sure if he will join the team when the season resumes later this month.

“I would hope these guys decide to do what's best for them and for their health and family first and foremost. If they decide to go to Orlando, we know we'll be taking best care possible of them,” Marks said. “But at the end of the day it goes back to what I said before: Everybody has a different set of circumstances in their life that they're dealing with whether that's family issues or the health and wellness of themselves. And we need to support those guys whatever decision that they make.”

If Dinwiddie satisfies NBA protocols for testing negative for coronavirus, he can join the Nets in Orlando even if he doesn’t initially travel with the team to the site of the resumed season. The team would also have to clear Dinwiddie to join them.

Marks also confirmed that Irving will not be joining the Nets in Orlando. Irving underwent shoulder surgery late in the season and Marks said it would be best if he and other injured Nets remained home to continue rehabbing. Irving also was among a group of players opposed to the NBA’s plan to re-start games in Orlando.

Marks said he supports Irving and other Nets using their platform to express concern over the NBA’s plan – or any other issue they’re concerned about.

“They had a platform and are able to voice whether there’s concerns, frustrations and really to have a conversation starter. So I think this is what makes the NBA great, where we have players that are able to get on a platform and at least have these conversations and spark conversations,” Marks said. “So I support our guys that want to stand up for not only for this cause but the many causes that they’ve done in the past. So the fact that Kyrie in particular did this, but I think we’ve seen multiple of our guys stand up, whether it’s through social media or articles that have been written - Garrett Temple for one - so again we support our players in their endeavors for sure.”

PLAYERS TESTING POSITIVE FOR CORONAVIRUS

Four Nets, including Durant, tested positive for coronavirus shortly after the season was suspended. More recently, Dinwiddie and DeAndre Jordan tested positive for the virus. There is a chance that Dinwiddie and Jordan contracted the virus while training with the Nets in Brooklyn.

Marks said he respects any Net who decides he doesn’t want to participate in the Orlando restart. Wilson Chandler told ESPN that he doesn’t plan to join the Nets in Orlando.

“How we approach this as a family and health and safety have been No. 1 priority through this entire pandemic and will continue to go be the priority long before hopefully there’s a vaccine and we can move forward here,” Marks said. “Regarding the particular players that have tested positive and have decided to optout, our job here is just to support them and their families in any way possible. Andwe realize it’s completely their decision. This is voluntary, this is by no means mandatory that people show up in Orlando in the bubble. And everybody has their own reasons as to why this may not be a fit for them, or weigh their needs a little bit differently from others. Some people have families, some people have extended families that are affected by this and so forth. So I don’t want to be the one to sit here and judge and say you guys should do this, you can look past this or look over that. I think this is a time when we need to show unparalleled amount of empathy across the board, across the organization.”

Marks said the organization considered holding training sessions in Orlando. But the group voted to hold those sessions in Brooklyn.

“Hindsight we can all say things would have went differently had we gone down to Orlando early or gone somewhere else, but at the end of the day this is a pandemic that I don't think anyone could quite put their fingers on with how it's being spread and so forth,” the GM said.

He added that the coronavirus has been challenging for everyone but he’s proud of how members of the organization have handled themselves during the difficult time. Marks added that the Nets at no time considered not sending a team to Orlando.

“Look, we have a job to do. We have to bring a team to Orlando. We will bring a team to Orlando. We will go down there and we will compete. That’s our jobs here,” Marks said. “I will say again it’s completely up to those individuals as to determine whether they want to go for a variety of different reasons and again we stand by those guys and I won’t get into details but we obviously support them.”