With the Nets still stinging from a first-round sweep, general manager Sean Marks wasn’t about to label this team a contender.

But he also wouldn’t rule out a move to turn it into one, be it this summer or at next year’s trade deadline.

For the Nets, to buy or to build is the million-dollar question.

“It’d be way too soon to call [us a contender]. We need to let the dust settle a little bit,” Marks said. “But we’ve always been prepared. In this day and age, we’ve all seen players demand trades … teams change — whether it’s ownership groups or front offices, and next thing you know they pivot. So we just have to be ready for whatever comes our way, and if we can make a change that [means] we can compete, then we’ll be strategic about it.”

The Nets saw their Big 3 of James Harden, Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant all force moves.

The rebooted roster went just 12-15 and got swept by Philadelphia.

Mikal Bridges is a solid building block, but needs a running mate.

What did Marks learn this year about the need to pick the right star — or the dangers of banking on the wrong one?

“It’s a great question and something we’ve thought of a lot and will continue to think about as we go,” said Marks, who praised the current roster but added, “that doesn’t mean we don’t look back and say, ‘What if? Had we done this? Should we have done this?’

“So it gives us a moment to reflect and say, ‘Well, did we have the right process in place? Were we really, really ready for that group? Was the borough of Brooklyn ready? Was the team ready? Was the surrounding ready when you bring in Kevin, Ky and James and that group?’ But at the same time, that era is gone and we’re onto something new here.”

This new era still has a glut of 3-and-D wings like Royce O’Neale and Dorian Finney-Smith that drew offers of first-round picks this season.

And with 11 first-rounders between now and 2029, the Nets have the fourth-most draft capital should they opt to chase a star like Damian Lillard.

“Do we build quick and expedite this thing?” Marks asked rhetorically. “Because a player comes around that we know, ‘Hey this player or players would fit within a group and give us an opportunity to really get back in and be contenders again.’

“That could happen, but at the same time, I don’t think we’re in any hurry. We’re not going to be pushed to make changes just for the sake of making changes.”

That is of course the prudent response.

But Marks knows he has to strike when the iron is hot — and the iron could be heating up on Lillard, whom league executives believe the Nets could pursue.

The Portland star has said he’s not interested in staying for another rebuild, and was in Barclays Center for Thursday’s Game 3.

He’s close with Bridges — video showed them leaving the building together — and told Yahoo Sports two years ago that the Nets wing was his favorite small forward in the league.

“I know people,” Bridges said coyly.

Spencer Dinwiddie has been caught up in these machinations before.

But what he sees before the Nets are good choices to have to make.

“You have two very distinct paths. You’re looking at a team that mirrors a Milwaukee without Giannis [Antetokounmpo],” Dinwiddie said. “If you think you can get a Giannis then are you probably or a very, very good team at that point? Likely. If you don’t, you do have a bevy of draft picks and several guys that could net you more picks. So they can go either route. Shoot, they could also stand pat and roll the dice.

“It’s all there for you. That’s why I said they’ve done a phenomenal job of giving themselves the possibility of even doing that. There’s not many organizations that have ever blown up a superstar-studded group that was in championship contention in one year and have the possibility of championship contention again the very next season depending on their offseason decisions.”