Like a foreign real estate speculator flipping a Brooklyn brownstone, Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov is reportedly selling the Brooklyn Nets [NOTE FOR TYPICAL GAWKER READERS: a professional basketball franchise], a team he has owned for less than five years.

From Bloomberg:

Because of their home in the No. 1 U.S. media market, and the infrequency with which marquee franchises become available, the Nets might fetch more than the record $2 billion former Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer paid for the Los Angeles Clippers in a frenzied auction sparked by racist comments made by former owner Donald Sterling, Schwartz said.

Mikhail Prokhorov has truly come to understand what Brooklyn is all about.

[Photo: AP]