The former NBA and Tall Blacks basketballer Sean Marks has been inducted into the Basketball New Zealand Hall of Fame.
NZ basketball player and administrator Sean Marks. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Just over a year ago Marks began his role as General Manager for the Brooklyn Nets, which was part of the reason he was unable to attend the Awards evening in Wellington.
His father, Gregory Marks, attended to accept the award on Sean's behalf, and to read out the following letter that Sean Marks sent to his father.
"Sorry I am unable to attend this special event. I'm certainly humbled and very honoured to be inducted into the Basketball New Zealand Hall of Fame. However, it is with great pleasure that my father is able to be there on my behalf. "
Sean Marks began his basketball career at Rangitoto College. In 1992, he moved to the United States to study and play for the University of California, Berkeley. He was the first New Zealander to play in the NBA. In 1998 he was drafted into the NBA by the New York Knicks, but went on to play for the Toronto Raptors.
Between 1998 until his retirement from playing in 2011, Marks played for the Miami Heat, San Antonio Spurs, Phoenix Suns, New Orleans Hornets and the Portland Trail Blazers. He also did a brief stint in Poland playing for Slask Wroclaw between 2000 and 2001. Upon retirement from the game, he took up a position in 2012 as Director of Basketball for the Spurs, and a year later became Assistant Coach for the team. In 2015 he returned to the front office becoming Assistant General Manager of the Spurs.
Career highlights included playing for the Spurs who won the 2005 NBA Championship. The Spurs won the NBA Champs again in 2014 while Sean was Assistant Coach. He played for the Tall Blacks in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and the 2004 Athens Olympics, and was part of the Tall Blacks team that finished fourth at the 2002 FIBA World Championships held in Indianapolis, USA. That team went on to be awarded New Zealand's team of the year and overall winners of the Halberg Awards for that year.
