Nets announce sale of team, Barclays Center to Tsai

Mikhail Prokhorov has entered into a definitive agreement to sell his 51 percent controlling interest in the Brooklyn Nets and full ownership of the Barclays Center to Joseph Tsai, the team announced on Friday.

The deal - which is worth an NBA-record $3.5 billion, according to NetsDaily - is still subject to league Board of Governors approval.

Longtime Nets CEO Brett Yormark will depart the organization after the sale is completed. Prokhorov, a Russian businessman, originally paid $200 million in 2009 to become the Nets' principal owner and a key investor in the Barclays Center. The Nets moved to the arena from New Jersey in 2012.

Two of the NBA's top three franchise sale prices have now come from New York and Los Angeles, the league's two biggest markets. Steve Ballmer purchased the Clippers for $2 billion in 2014, and the Houston Rockets were sold from Leslie Alexander to Tilman Fertitta for $2.2 billion in 2017.

Tsai, the co-founder of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, holds an estimated net worth of $8.8 billion. He's been a co-owner of the Nets with Prokhorov since 2017.