Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has no plans to sell team

Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has no plans to sell team

Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov said that he has no plans to team and that he doesn’t plan on making changes to his staff or front office, according to the New York Daily News.

There have been numerous reports over the past few months about Prokhorov and his purported desires to sell the team. He says that is not the case, despite reports that he hired investment bank Evercore Partners to help him sell the franchise.

[daily_cut.nba]

Prokhorov owns 80 percent of the Nets and also has a 45 percent stake in the Barclays Center, Brooklyn’s home arena.

Forbesestimates the Nets' value to be $1.5 billion, the sixth highest in the NBA.  

Prokhorov said there have been about 10 offers from potential buyers for his shares in the team.

“I never intended to sell the team and have looked at selling only the minority stake,” Prokhorov told the New York Daily News. “And for the time being there is nothing on the table. . . . If somebody wants to send me any kind of proposal, why not? Just to have a look. But we’re only speaking about minority stakes in the team.”

According to a report, the Nets' basketball operations department lost $144 million last season, due to the team's payroll, debt and a television deal that has not been profitable.

• NBA playoff race: Projected matchups

This season, Brooklyn is 36-42 and sits in eighth place in the Eastern Conference, one game ahead of the Indiana Pacers and Miami Heat with four games remaining in the regular season.

The Nets would hold a tiebreaker over the Pacers. 

- Scooby Axson