Sources: Tsai discussing minority sale of Nets

Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai has discussed the possibility of selling a minority stake in the franchise to the Koch family, sources confirmed to ESPN.

The family’s investment vehicle, 1888 Management, could potentially buy a stake in BSE Global, Tsai’s holding company that controls not only the Nets but also the WNBA’s New York Liberty and Barclays Center.

The Kochs are well known for their involvement in politics, particularly in terms of funding conservative causes. Another prominent family in those circles, the Adelsons, recently purchased the controlling stake of the Dallas Mavericks from longtime owner Mark Cuban.

Tsai bought the Nets from Mikhail Prokhorov in 2019, after having bought 49% of the team from the Russian billionaire the year before.

Brooklyn is 21-33 this season entering Thursday night’s game against the Toronto Raptors, and it fired coach Jacque Vaughn on Monday after the Nets had gone 6-18 over their previous 24 games.

Bloomberg first reported the news of the discussions over the minority stake taking place.