Report: Mikhail Prokhorov no longer working with bank to sell Nets

Mikhail Prokhorov was reportedly working with a bank to sell the Nets.

No longer.

Darren Rovell of ESPN:

Brooklyn Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov has ended his agreement with investment bank Evercore Partners, who he hired to explore a sale of the team, banking sources told ESPN.com on Tuesday.

“Nothing has happened and they’ve been talking about it (in the media) for a year,” Nets CEO Brett Yormark said last week on a panel in Manhattan. “So I’d probably say I don’t think anything is going to happen. We have an ownership group that is very committed.”

At the risk of reading too much into this, it’s possible Prokhorov is still interested in selling the team – just not through Evercore Partners.

But context suggests that’s unlikely.

Steve Kyler of Basketball Insiders:

https://twitter.com/stevekylerNBA/status/575492215532711936

Reports about Prokhorov selling or not selling the team have trickled out for the last year. I doubt this ends them.

He might just wait until he fetches more favorable offers.

Joe Johnson’s and Deron Williams’ contracts run through next season, and Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young have eight-digit player options. It’ll be hard for Brooklyn to compete until it gets a little salary-cap flexibility.

The Nets still have the issue of trading multiple future first round-picks (2016 and 2018) or the right to swap first rounders (2015 with the Hawks and 2017 with the Celtics), but one thing at a time.