After nearly five years of owning the franchise, Mikhail Prokhorov is reportedly exploring a sale of the Brooklyn Nets.

Sources tell Bloomberg News that Prokhorov, the first foreign owner of an NBA team, retained Evercore Partners to sell the franchise he bought in 2010. Prokhorov owns 80 percent of the team and 45 percent of the Barclays Center, the 2 1/2-year-old arena where the Nets play their home games. Prokhorov is reportedly trying to sell the team, but is not putting his share of the Barclays Center on the market.

“It’s a unique asset which is going to garner national and international interest,” Sal Galatioto, the founder of New York-based firm, Galatioto Sports Partners, which has sold NBA teams in the past, told Bloomberg News. 

Added valuations expert Peter Schwartz: “The fever of a trophy asset goes beyond financial analysis—as we saw in Los Angeles."

Schwartz is referring to the $2 billion former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer spent to purchase the Los Angeles Clippers last season.

As of now, there's no known timetable on when Prokhorov's majority ownership of the Nets will be sold or to whom. 

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