Mikhail Prokhorov Will Never Get $2 Billion For the Brooklyn Nets Without Throwing in the Barclays Center

Mikhail Prokhorov, the owner of the Brooklyn Nets, wants to sell the team. His original plan was to sell a minority share – up to 49% – and then eventually the entire thing, but apparently no one wants a piece of D'Angelo Russell’s team. So now he’s open to just selling the entire franchise all at once. Following the $2.2 billion sale of the Houston Rockets, he’s reportedly looking for $2 billion.

When Prokhorov gained control of 100% of the Nets in 2015, the team was valued at $1.7 billion. The team was thought to be worth approximately $875 million and the Barclays Center, where the Nets play, was $825 million. That could hurt Prokhorov’s chances of getting $2 billion because he apparently wants to keep the arena.

In February Forbes valued the team at $1.8 billion, with the arena accounting for $551 million of that. The actual brand, the Brooklyn Nets, is the least valuable part of the Brooklyn Nets at $186 million. The New York market and the fact that the team is in the NBA make up more than a billion of the value. That’s why the Nets are one of the most valuable NBA franchises while simultaneously one of the least profitable.

So how does Prokhorov get anywhere near his $2 billion asking price without throwing in the thing that makes the Nets valuable – the place where Ed Sheeran and Paul McCartney have dates scheduled this month? Unless Prokhorov can find another, even richer, even more bored oligarch, that could be difficult.