When last I saw Sean Marks, I could hardly tell his professional world was crumbling all around him.

The beleaguered Brooklyn Nets general manager was at Las Vegas Summer League, talking with fellow executives near the famed “Pit” area at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center, where NBA influencers have mingled for so many years now. He was relaxed, calm and friendly — not the traits one would expect from someone whose franchise centerpiece player had demanded a trade just days before, despite having four years and roughly a trillion dollars left on his deal. Or whose second-best player — the same one who deemed himself a co-manager of the franchise back in April — had also asked for a trade only to opt back in when the market forces pushed him back to Brooklyn.

Marks’ job security (or perceived lack thereof) had been a popular topic around the league even before these latest rounds of Nets drama, so the sight of such comfort, confidence and affability in that oft-revealing social setting was somewhat counterintuitive. If this was a glimpse of Marks’ poker face, it was as good a sign as any that he might be able to survive in the high stakes NBA game of power plays that engulfed him.

Fewer than two months later, with the Nets’ Tuesday announcement that Kevin Durant has decided to “move forward with our partnership” fewer than three weeks after he had called for the GM and head coach Steve Nash to be fired, here’s Marks with the winning hand. For now, anyway.

It would be naive to consider this superstar(s) saga over, as the relationships between all involved will be monitored (along with their play) up until the February trade deadline. This kind of discontent doesn’t just disappear overnight.

But with training camp nearing, it also should surprise no one that the plot twisted like a pretzel here.

As was the case with Kyrie Irving, whose grand plans of an exit were dashed by the reality that teams of his liking weren’t willing to gamble nearly enough for a deal to go down, Durant learned the hard way that leverage is the key to any negotiation.