Nets minority owner Joseph Tsai has officially completed the purchase of the WNBA’s New York Liberty, the league announced today in a press release. The franchise was previously controlled by Knicks owner James Dolan.
“We are fortunate to welcome Joe Tsai to the WNBA family at a pivotal time for our league,” interim WNBA president Mark Tatum said in a statement. “We thank Jim Dolan and The Madison Square Garden Company for their incredible support of the WNBA over the past 22 years and for their commitment to finding the right owner for the Liberty. As active participants in the New York community, Joe and his team are very well-positioned to take the Liberty to exciting new heights.”
Tsai’s investment in the city’s WNBA franchise is the latest signal of his commitment to New York basketball. While Tsai is technically only a minority stakeholder in the Nets for the time being, he owns 49% of the franchise and his agreement with Mikhail Prokhorov will give him the opportunity to assume controlling interest in the team by 2021.
Here’s more on the Nets:
- Although Nets head coach Kenny Atkinson consistently praised Kenneth Faried‘s attitude and work ethic during the big man’s time in Brooklyn, Faried called his Nets tenure “frustrating” and felt that the club wasn’t being straight with him, as Stefan Bondy of The New York Daily News relays. Faried said he got the impression that the Nets didn’t trust him, and eventually decided he’d welcome a move. “That was the perception. The, ‘I don’t know you yet,'” he said. “A lot of beating around the bush as to why they wouldn’t play me. So it was like, if we figure something out then let’s immediately make that move. Because I don’t want to hinder y’all, and y’all hindering my career, pretty much.”
- With restricted free agency looming this summer, D’Angelo Russell is playing the best basketball of his career, writes Greg Joyce of The New York Post. That’s an opinion shared by both Russell and his head coach. “He’s playing at an All-Star level, quite honestly,” Atkinson said. “And physically he looks great. I told him, ‘I don’t know what you’re doing, but keep doing it, because you look fast, you look recovered, you look spry.'”
- While the Nets don’t have the Knicks’ history and don’t play in the world’s most famous arena, Brooklyn is establishing itself as an appealing free agent destination, opines Newsday columnist Barbara Barker.
Faried made a lot of sense for them, and he played really well when he played, as expected, but Ed Davis has played so well that they haven’t found minutes for him, although I still think they could have in certain lineups. He should be a similarly good fit in Houston, in my opinion
How great would it be for a New York sports radio jock or for one of there papers to tease that Dolan just sold his basketball team just for people to look and see it’s not the Knicks.
Only reason I know who Mark Tatum is , is I’m pretty sure that’s the dude who ran the draft lottery on nba 2k18 hahaha
Yeah I always remember that dude from announcing the 2nd round.
I know everybody is high & raving about the Nets, but I am very disappointed with the way they deal with players, last year they didn’t give any chance at all to Okafor, though when he played he did well, this year they repeated the same with Faried, he did really well when he got playing time… seems to be the pattern, also Musa hasn’t seen the court in so long, it seems that if you are not in, you have no chance to get in, if you are in the clique then you will do fine (like Dudley, what is the reason why he plays? who knows) Really hope Nets start doing things better, I always kind of like them but now I am loosing interest in them quite quickly.