The Thunder play the Brooklyn Nets on the road Tuesday night. Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov owns the team and his run as an NBA owner has been shaky at best. The Nets currently own the worst record in the NBA with a 12-53 mark. He doesn’t appear to know what he’s doing as an owner, yet he’s a very interesting guy with a likeable personaility.
Prokhorov per Forbes has an estimated net worth of $9 billion dollars and made a his fortune in the metal industries. In 2012, he threw his hat into Russian political circles and challenged Vladamir Putin for the presidency. Prokhorov started his own liberal party and basically ran his campaign being a harsh critic of Putin, but only received 9% of the vote.
Like many in Russia who have challenged Putin, Prokhorov became the target of various financial investigations for purported tax violations after his political challenge of Putin.
When Prokhorov initially purchased the Nets, his stated goal was to win an NBA championship within a five year window. Right now, just making the Nets once again competitive would be a major accomplishment considering how bad the team is currently
But still, he seems likeable and always interesting. Here’s a look back at Prokhorov’s run for the Russian presidency in 2012 from a Russian perspective.