Alibaba co-founder to buy 49 percent of Brooklyn Nets —reports

The Brooklyn Nets huddle on the court prior to their first home game against the Toronto Raptors at the Barclays Center on November 3, 2012 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Alex Trautwig/Getty Images/AFP

Joseph Tsai, one of the founders of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, is set to buy 49 percent of the NBA’s Brooklyn Nets, reports said Friday.

ESPN and Newsday both reported that Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, who purchased controlling interest in the cub in 2009, has agreed to the sale.

Although the Nets had the worst record in the NBA last season, a source told Newsday that the deal values the franchise at $2.3 billion.

That tops the $2.2 billion sale of the Houston Rockets earlier this year in a deal that included their Toyota Center arena.

Under terms of the Nets sale first reported by ESPN, Tsai can choose to purchase a controlling interest in the Nets after four years, but not necessarily 100 percent ownership.

Prokhorov, who retains full ownership of Barclays Center arena, could retain a minority stake in the team in the future and remain in control of team operations and the management team he installed more than a year ago headed by general manager Sean Marks and head coach Kenny Atkinson.

ESPN reported that it obtained NBA financial documents that show the Nets lost $144 million on basketball-related activities in the 2013-14 season, a figure more than $100 million higher than any other franchise. The Nets’ operating loss of $23.5 million last season was higher than any other team except the Detroit Pistons.

This season the outlook is brighter for the team thanks to an increase in television revenues of nearly $50 million, in part the result of increases in the NBA’s national television contract.