Pacific Park, Brooklyn
The Barclays Center is the new home arena of the National Basketball Association's Brooklyn Nets, and the NHL's New York Islanders which was purchased by a group led by principal developer Bruce Ratner with the intention of making it and the arena the centerpiece of the whole project. This brought major league professional sports to Brooklyn for the first time since the Brooklyn Dodgers moved to Los Angeles, California after the 1957 season. The arena’s design once included an ice skating rink and a green roof. An NBA basketball team now owned primarily by Russia's second richest man Mikhail Prokhorov, the Nets began playing at the Barclays Center arena in 2012. Formerly the New Jersey Nets, the Nets re-branded themselves when they moved to the Barclays Center. Prokhorov is an avid basketball fan, and, with 80 percent ownership in the Nets, he has become the first Russian owner of a major U.S. professional sports franchise. The deal was necessary for Ratner, who was risking losing tax-exempt financing and the Barclays naming-rights deal if he did not break ground within three months' time.
History of the Brooklyn Nets
Also, Rod Thorn, the team's long-time president who built the successful Nets teams of the early 2000s, resigned on June 25, 2010. In July, Billy King was named as his replacement.
The Nets started their first season in Newark poorly. Part of the reason was the distractions created by trade rumors regarding Carmelo Anthony, who many presumed wanted to leave the Denver Nuggets. With the entire team except Brook Lopez, Sasha Vujacic and Jordan Farmar rumored to be part of a proposed trade for Anthony at some point, the team struggled to a 17–40 record at the All-Star Break, when Anthony was finally traded to the cross-river rival New York Knicks. However, a week later, on February 23, 2011, the Nets made a surprising trade for All-Star point guard Deron Williams. The trade sent Devin Harris and rookie Derrick Favors to the Utah Jazz along with draft picks from the Golden State Warriors and cash considerations. The team went on to lose the first three games with Williams in the lineup, and then win five straight. However, Williams was hampered by a wrist injury that forced him to sit for most of the last games of the season; they won two more games, and finished with a 24–58 record.