Mikhail Prokhorov was a total failure running the Nets, expect in the way in that counts. He was a terrible NBA franchise owner who still made an incredible profit on his investment. In retrospect, it was the deal of the century. (1)

In 2009, Mikhail Prokhorov, a swaggering Russian minerals oligarch out of favor with a Vladimir Putin regime, spent less than $400 million buying control of the moribund New Jersey Nets and a large share of Barclays Center. (2)

The new arena in the heart of Brooklyn that would be the home of NBA franchise. Based on the cost and value of the arena, we can probably consider Prokhorov's purchase price for the Nets to be south of $200 million, maybe cheaper. (3)

Almost exactly a decade out from that purchase, the New York Post reports Prokhorov is completely his sale of the Nets franchise to junior partner Joseph Tsai for a total price of $2.35 billion. (4)

We don't know how much money Prokhorov invested in annual losses along the way, but the oligarch flipped an NBA franchise over the course of a decade for a net profit of more than $2 billion. Even if you assume he lost $100 million a year running the team. (5)

Which is absurdly high, there's basically no way he lost that much even with famously high player payrolls he'd still be sitting on better than $1 billion in profit from the sale. (6)

Even in the world where sports franchises have become some most valuable properties in the nation, that price for the Nets is unbelievable. It's especially so considering the abject destruction how there is no Penalty for poor leadership for NBA franchisees.(7)

Glazer's 2.0 no thank you!

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