How did Danny Ainge convince the Nets to take two aging players for their own future?
Because Mikhail bought the team for $350 million and wanted to create a huge buzz around the franchise with the move to Brooklyn- he didn't care about the future so much as making sure the Nets had a solid first two years. This is why Billy King hasn't been fired- he's made Mikhail at least $500 million dollars.
Obviously the NBA's growth around the globe has a huge part to do with that, but he tapped into a massive Chinese market/European market at the right time.
In reality, if you remove the basketball and on court results from the picture, it was a brilliant idea and a huge roll of the dice to create a buzz around the Nets for 18-24 months.
The value of the team has almost tripled in 4 years to a billion dollars.
Pretty good return on investment and Prorokhov really couldn't give a #%%* if they gave away a few years of picks for $500 million.