Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has ended his relationship with Evercore Partners, the investment bank hired to explore the team's potential sale, according to Darren Rovell of ESPN.
Nets’ owner dumps investment firm tasked with selling team, according to report
It appears Mikhail Prokhorov has put his efforts to sell the Nets on hold for now.
Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports
Prokhorov hired the firm in January to take offers for the franchise in the wake of Steve Ballmer purchasing the Los Angeles Clippers for $2 billion. The Russian billionaire owns 80 percent of the team and 45 percent of Barclays Center, which has been the Nets' home since 2012.
Purchasing the Nets has been a highly profitable move for Prokhorov, who originally spent $200 million to buy the team in 2010. Now, following the massive purchases of teams like the Clippers and Milwaukee Bucks, Forbes estimates the franchise's value at roughly $1.5 billion. Selling the team would add substantially to Prokhorov's already large fortune.
However, that valuation likely won’t drop any time soon with the NBA’s ballooning revenues, and as Nets Daily points out, people involved with the team haven’t been expecting a sale.
"Nothing has happened and they've been talking about it (in the media) for a year," Nets CEO Brent Yormark told a sports symposium in Manhattan last week. "So I'd probably say I don't think anything is going to happen. We have an ownership group that is very committed."
Prokhorov, who Forbes estimates as being worth $9.3 billion, has never been shy about spending money on his NBA team. The Nets have paid massive luxury tax bills under his ownership, including an astonishing $90.57 in luxury taxes for the 2013-14 season. He’ll get all that money back if (or when) he decides to sell, though.
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