Sean Mark finishes third in 2020-21 NBA Executive of the Year voting

What’s a guy gotta do to win Executive of the Year in this league? Apparently acquiring three of the game’s top 15 players isn’t good enough.

Brooklyn Nets GM Sean Marks finished third in the 2020-21 NBA Executive of the Year voting behind Dennis Lindsey of the Utah Jazz (second place) and James Jones of the Phoenix Suns, who was named the Executive of the Year.

A year after finishing tenth in voting for the 2019-20 Executive of the Year — the year the Nets signed Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, along with DeAndre Jordan — Marks did his best to give Brooklyn its best chance to win it all this past season.

Not only did he trade for James Harden in January, Marks also acquired Bruce Brown and Landry Shamet and signed Jeff Green for the minimum prior to the 2020-21 season. During the regular season, Marks signed Blake Griffin and LaMarcus Alridge — who played only five games before retiring due to a medical issue — off the buyout market, incensing NBA fans … and maybe some of his fellow GMs who vote on the award.

His efforts this past season won him a total of 51 votes — five first-place votes, seven second-place votes and five third-place votes. Here’s the full voting ballot and voting-point breakdown.

NBA Communications

The Nets have had only one General Manager win the honor in their franchise history — Rod Thorn, New Jersey (2001-02).