Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov and co-owner Joe Tsai are on completely different timelines. In a few years, Prokhorov will be essentially divested from the team, while Tsai has plans spanning six, seven, eight years down the line.
But being on different timelines hasn’t kept them from being on the same page.
The fact that they’ve found a way to stay in lock-step, and not let their disparate timelines disrupt the organization — or Nets GM Sean Marks’ carefully crafted plans — is noteworthy. Marks claims the key is communication, presumably not the easiest thing with two billionaires — one based in Moscow and the other in Hong Kong.
“That’s probably one of the greatest things about [them], and a credit to Mikhail and Joe. I haven’t noticed a differing of opinions. Both collaborate,” Marks told The Post. “I collaborate with them a lot. There’s no surprises. Just like within my group. I don’t like to hear surprises, they don’t like to hear surprises either.
“We talk about everything well in advance. Every little nuance, every little option that could be there and should be there and probably won’t be there. But they’ve both shown the support we need from a basketball operations department.”
In October 2017, Tsai reached an agreement to buy 49 percent of the Nets, valued at $2.35 billion. In April 2018, the Alibaba co-founder completed a deal that gives him the option to take a controlling interest in 2021.
The potential for disharmony was obvious.
With the clock ticking on Prokhorov’s majority ownership, there could have been temptation for him to prod Marks to cut corners, like Billy King’s Boston deal. Or conversely for Tsai — still the executive vice chairman of the Alibaba Group — to balk at paying the luxury tax or any big free agent (such as Kawhi Leonard, Kristaps Porzingis) that would cost him dearly years before his majority ownership.
But so far that hasn’t happened, both billionaires working in accord.
“The ultimate goal for everybody is to win the whole thing,” Marks said. “So however you get there and whenever you get there, and whatever route you take, they’ve got to understand “Hey, this is in the cards.” If you look at what Mikhail’s done in the past, he’s not afraid to step up.
“They’re both astute businessmen, so they understand what’s at stake. So at the right time — whenever that may be — where we have to go in that direction, it’s about making sure that they’re educated on what that may mean, what’s this mean long term, what’s this mean a year out from now? It’s just make sure there’s clear and open communication between ownership and basketball operation.”
