Can Russian Money Lure LeBron Out Of Cleveland?

It's pretty much a done deal. Russia's richest man, Mikhail Prokhorov, is going to buy an 80% controlling interest in the New Jersey... soon to be Brooklyn... Nets. Suddenly... the "It makes the most sense for LeBron to stay in Cleveland" thing might not apply as much as it used to. The guy is worth $9.5 billion... so I doubt there will be any luxury tax issues when 2010 rolls around. You can build a team around the guy. And LeBron is out there whoring himself out all over the place... so the opportunity to become ubiquitous in the Russian marketplace might be too tempting for LBJ. This is a man with the stated goal of being a billionaire. Forget raising his profile by going to New York. New York is secondary here. The fact that this Russian playboy can throw his weight behind the LeBron brand is bigger than anything else that has been in this equation until now. The NBA and China already have a huge relationship. That doesn't exist yet in Russia. ...