The Nets could be taking on a very major minority owner, with the billionaire Koch family reportedly in talks to buy a stake.
Julia Koch — the widow of David Koch Sr. — would be leading the bid, which would make her the NBA’s newest and wealthiest minority owner.
Sources told The Post that there would be no pathway to majority control.
Bloomberg News was the first to report the initial talks, which have been confirmed by The Post.
While it has been reported that the Koch bid was for up to 10 percent of BSE Global, The Post has learned Koch is negotiating for potentially as high as a 15 percent stake.
The family had initially been in talks to buy a stake in the Knicks, sources confirmed, before moving on and turning their attention across the East River.
They’ve been in discussions with Nets owner Joe Tsai for over a month.
The 61-year-old Julia would be buying a stake, but son David Jr. would also be involved.
An industry source conceded that 20 years from now, David Jr. could very well end up owning an NBA team.
There have been rumblings of Tsai looking to sell a minority share for the past year.
These talks would be not just for the Nets, but BSE Global, the holding company that also owns Barclays Center, the WNBA’s New York Liberty and other properties.
Tsai, an e-commerce billionaire, is the co-founder and chairman of Alibaba.
The 60-year-old bought the Nets from Russian oligarch Mikal Prokhorov after the latter was pressured to sell by Vladimir Putin, sources told The Post.
Tsai has paid over $300 million in luxury tax since buying the Nets, and this potential move would offer some liquidity.
While recently Sportico estimated the Nets are worth $3.98 billion, an industry source that spoke with The Post said their “best guess” was that the minority stake would be sold at a hefty $4.8 billion valuation.
The Koch Brothers family investment vehicle, 1888 Management, is the entity interested in buying a stake, per the Bloomberg report.
The family is one of the wealthiest and most influential in the entire country, its political clout and ability to dictate policy well-documented.
Originally from Kansas, the Kochs have supported the Wichita State Shockers basketball program in the past. Now they’re on the brink of graduating to the NBA.
David Koch Sr. passed away in 2019. Still in his late 20s, Koch Jr. has been shopping for a team investment for roughly a year, a source familiar with the situation told The Post.
Now he and his mother are in discussions with Tsai.
Julia has donated significant sums of money to Lincoln Center, where Tsai’s wife — BSE Global Vice Chair Clara Wu Tsai — sits on the board.
Julia is estimated to be worth between $60 billion-$65 billion, dependent on the source. Either way, she is believed to be the second-richest woman in the world.
That vast Koch family fortune would make it the second-richest ownership group involved in the NBA, behind only billionaire Steve Ballmer, who owns the Los Angeles Clippers.
Koch Jr. is a big basketball fan and lives in New York City.
A 2021 Duke grad with a BA in political science and government, Koch Jr. actually worked under Jim Dolan as a Membership Experience Executive for Madison Square Garden Sports.
Instead, the family appears more likely to be investing in Brooklyn than Manhattan.