Nets general manager Billy King tweeted an idyllic photo from Istanbul on Thursday afternoon, where he said he would be this week for the Euroleague Final Four, which begins Friday.
About an hour later, however, N
ets fans got a surprise when star point guard Deron Williams, who played for Turkish league power Besiktas in Istanbul during the lockout, tweeted a photo of what looked to be the nearly the same view captioned Back in Istanbul.
But the surprises dont end there.
The Post has learned that Mikhail Prokhorov will be with King and Williams for CSKA Moscows semifinal Friday against Panathinaikos. With Williams famously set to explore free agency this summer -- and with his hometown Mavericks, fresh off their four-game sweep at the hands of the Thunder, expected to be the primary challengers for his signature --
the fact that hes spending time during the offseason with King and Prokhorov can only be seen as a good sign for the teams chances of keeping him.
King had said during his end-of-season press conference that the purpose of his trip was to meet with Bojan Bogdanovic, Brooklyns second-round pick last June who averaged a team-high 13.6 points for another Turkish powerhouse based in Istanbul, Fenerbache Ulker.
But King, Williams and Prokhorov also will be getting a close look at CSKA star Andrei Kirilenko, a name very familiar to NBA fans after playing 10 years for the Jazz, including together with Williams from the day the point guard was drafted until he was dealt to the Nets.
Though multiple sources flatly denied a report last week that said a verbal agreement between Kirilenko and the Nets was imminent, The Post did confirm the team has monitored the versatile 6-foor-10 forwards play this season for CSKA.
In addition to Kirilenkos obvious connection with Williams, and that Kirilenkos wife, Masha, wrote in a blog that Williams and his wife, Amy, had met with the Kirilenkos in Istanbul, Kirilenko has ties to Prokhorov.
Kirilenko first played with CSKA, a team Prokhorov previously financially supported and has been run by associates of his, from 1998-2001. In fact, in the blog Misha Kirilenko wrote that was linked to earlier, she mentions Sergei Kushchenko, who used to run CSKA and was named to Nets board of directors by Prokhorov last May.
In addition to playing for CSKA Moscow both before his time with the Jazz and now, Kirilenko also supported Prokhorovs failed bid to win the Russian presidency earlier this year.
tbontemps@nypost.com
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