Two years after agreeing to buy a minority share of the Brooklyn Nets, e-commerce billionaire Joe Tsai was unanimously approved as the owner by the NBA Board of Governors on Wednesday.
Tsai spent $3.5 billion to buy the Nets and Barclays Center – the arena sale did not require league approval – from Mikhail Prokhorov. The Alibaba co-founder called it “an honor,” and praised the job GM Sean Marks and Kenny Atkinson did in building an also-ran into a playoff team.
“They established the culture, developed talent others couldn’t see, and made Brooklyn the place where the best players want to play,” Tsai said in a statement, adding the players’ work has put the Nets “in a great position to compete.