Earlier this week, we told you about the dire financial straits the Nets find themselves in, losing money at a pace of $50 million a year at last count. Considering the franchise itself was only $300 million when purchased five years ago, um, that ain’t good.

(You know who else thought those were nice colors? THE SOVIETS.)

So in a move that’s bound to piss off anybody who has ever screamed “GIMME BACK MY COUNTRY,” even - nay, especially when it doesn’t even make sense in context, Russia’s wealthiest man is set to swoop in and make a deal for the team. Russia! That’s where the czars are from! But his decision to pursue the Nets means that his wealth may be a stroke of luck, not good judgment.

Read more…

The Nets are still planning a move to a dramatic new arena in Brooklyn, a Frank Gehry-designed basketball cathedral that will be part of a basketball and skyscraper project called Atlantic Yards. But Nets owner and developer Bruce Ratner’s plans for the stadium just can’t get enough public funding, so he had to find a clever way to get his hands on some more money. Luckily, he happens to know the Maloof brothers out in Sacramento and, exactly as we predicted here two days ago, he’s become the latest NBA owner to pin his franchise’s hopes of a new arena on funding from the federal government’s stimulus package.

(Your hard earned-money could go into this … and make Bruce Ratner rich.)

The story comes from NEW YORK MAGAZINE’s DAILY INTEL blog, which cites an article in the NEW YORK POST and conversations with Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz as reason to believe that Ratner is spending most of his time begging for as much federal funding as he can get his hands on.

Read more…

Marc Berman of the NEW YORK POST shoots up the latest plan to bring LeBron James to the Big Apple.

When LeBron has a chance to opt out of his Cavaliers contract in 2010, Berman suggests making salary cap room by trading away Zach Randolph and his $17.8 million contract that runs through 2011. And it doesn’t have to be just Zach that’s zapped from the roster, as Berman says removing Eddy Curry or Jamal Crawford could also put the Knicks under the cap.

But if MSG management can’t make this happen, some fans hope to sway LeBron with their own greenback grass-roots campaign. Read more…

Impossible-to-pronounce Adrian Wojnarowski of YAHOO SPORTS covers the possible cleave between Lebron James and the Cavaliers, despite team owner (and busy tax guy) Dan Gilbert and the city doing all they can to maintain their mulling monarch.

Wojnarowski is the latest points to James’ close relationship to Jay-Z, who also happens to be part owner of the soon-to-be Brooklyn Nets. Read more…