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Russian sports sites and newspapers took note of the Nets' change of address and name this week with most of them reporting on Jay-Z's announcement, with at least one taking note of Mikhail Prokhorov's absence at the Brooklyn event. The Nets owner was back in Moscow tending to other duties.
"Missing was the leader of 'Right Things'," commented a writer for Komsomolskaya Pravada in a play on Prokhorov's "Right Cause" party. "[He was] healing the wounds after the party squabbles." Prokhorov wasn't quoted in the Barclays Center press release Monday and he declined, through a spokesman, to add his thoughts. He left that to Christophe Charlier, Chairman of the Nets board of directors.
Russian audiences however needed no introduction to Jay-Z. He is the husband of Beyonce! Several accounts indicated that while her fiance Sasha Vujacic may not play at the Barclays Center, Maria Sharapova is expected to.