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In tweets Monday afternoon, Frank Zanin, who had served as Billy King's trusted assistant in Philadelphia, New Jersey and Brooklyn, announced that he has left the Nets assistant GM position.
After speaking with Sean this morning I have decided to step I down from my position of Assistant GM.
— Frank Zanin (@F1E2Z) April 4, 2016
This will allow Sean to fill out his staff and give me a chance to pursue other opportunities.
— Frank Zanin (@F1E2Z) April 4, 2016
I would like to thank the Brooklyn Nets for allowing me to be a part of their organization for the past six years.
— Frank Zanin (@F1E2Z) April 4, 2016
Zanin did not discuss the terms under which he leaves the Nets. His contract reportedly has months to run.
After King was "reassigned" in January, Zanin served as the defacto GM until Sean Marks was appointed general manager in February. He was one of eight candidates who interviewed for the GM position, winning an tweeted endorsement from Kobe Bryant but to no avail. Once Marks assumed the GM job and later appointed Trajan Langdon his assistant, it was assumed that Zanin would ultimately depart.
Zanin was the ultimate King loyalist. He owes his career to the man who was his boss in both Philadelphia, New Jersey and Brooklyn. Zanin began his NBA career in 1999 as a video intern with the 76ers, when King was GM. The next year, he was hired as the team’s video coordinator, increasingly becoming one of King's trusted lieutenants.
By 2003, he was promoted to advance scout/assistant coach and in 2006, Zanin began a two-year tenure as the team’s pro personnel scout, leaving in May 2007 after the Sixers canned King and brought in Ed Stefanski in mid-season.
From then until King joined the Nets in New Jersey, Zanin was out of the NBA. With King back, it wasn't long before Zanin joined him, Zanin served his first three seasons with the Nets as the team’s pro personnel scout and director of player procurement. Along the way, Zanin's brother, T.J., was signed as a Nets scout. T.J. is now director of college scouting for the Hornets.
By the summer of 2012, Zanin was getting credit from ownership for being a "big help" in the off-season moves that included re-signing Deron Williams and Brook Lopez, trading for Joe Johnson and signing Mirza Teletovic, among others.
He played a big role in the Nets drafting of Juan Pablo Vaulet, the Argentine swingman, last June. He scouted Vaulet in Argentina before the draft and kept up on his progress, visiting Buenos Aires earlier this season.
Trajan Langdon, who worked with Marks in the Spurs front office and played for Mikhail Prokhorov at CSKA Moscow, is now the Nets only assistant general manager.