After the Los Angeles Clippers were prepped for a sale to former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the valuation of NBA teams across the country came under scrutiny. We speculated that the Brooklyn Nets, who were bought for around $200 million by Mikhail Prokhorov in 2010, could be worth as much as $3 billion.
Apparently we’re not the only ones speculating. Prokhorov might be listening to offers to sell the team, according to a report by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports:
“Just listening so far,” a league official with direct knowledge told Yahoo Sports. “They haven’t indicated a desire or willingness to sell. …Nothing was initiated by [Prokhorov].”
Part of Prokhorov’s willingness to listen has come out of his company’s curiosity of how much his ownership share of the Nets and the Barclays Center could fetch on the market, league sources said.
Yahoo! Sports — Sources: Mikhail Prokhorov listening to offers for Nets
A statement from the team to fan blog NetsDaily indicated that Prokhorov currently “(has) no indications of selling the team.”
When I was a high school freshman, the NBA filmed an All-Star Game commercial at my school. I learned this by walking out of class and seeing Lamar Odom walking the other way, which was a weird way to end third period. By the end of the week, I’d procured a basketball signed by LeBron James, who was a rookie at the time. For the next two years, I’d constantly check how much that ball was worth: not because I’d ever sell it, but just because I was oddly curious about how much it could fetch on the open market.
Right now, Prokhorov is a billionaire sitting on a toy that’s never been valued higher. If people want to call him to tell him how valuable it is, he’s got every right to listen.
