Is the Nets' Russian billionaire owner selling?
Mikhail Prokhorov, the Russian billionaire who five years ago bought the National Basketball Association's lowly New Jersey Nets and moved them to Brooklyn with championship dreams, is trying to unload the team, according to a report first published by Bloomberg.
After buying the Nets, Prokhorov said he was on an ambitious path to turn a perennially underperforming franchise into not just a contender, but a champion.
"When I came here I promised there would be a championship within five years," Prokhorov told Charlie Rose in a 2013 interview.
This is year five, and things aren't quite on track for that championship. Sure, Prokhorov propped up the Nets payroll to the highest in the NBA, acquiring former champions like ex-Celtics Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. The Nets payroll busted the $100 million mark, but the injury-plagued team didn't deliver on the investment.
While salaries were trimmed this year to about $90 million, the payroll remains the NBA's largest. Still, the team has lost six straight games and is six games below .500 at 16-22.
Prokhorov paid $223 million in May 2010 to become majority owner. So, are the multiple reports the team is for sale a sign that his five-year plan has failed and it's time to move on?
The team says no sale is imminent but that ownership is willing is entertain offers.
"As we have said for many months, ownership is always open to listening to offers -- that's just good business," team spokeswoman Ellen Pinchuk said in a statement. "There is nothing imminent in terms of a sale of any stake in the team."
