Joe Tsai has learned that owning an NBA team can make you a target fast, and in a new book he lays out just how personal that backlash can get.
In David Rubenstein’s upcoming book, “From the Owner’s Box,” the Brooklyn Nets owner talks through the kind of decisions that can define an owner’s public image. One of the biggest came in January 2021, when Tsai approved the trade that brought James Harden to Brooklyn to join Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
Durant and Irving were already in place before Tsai became controlling owner, but Harden was his move, made at the cost of players and valuable draft assets. The trio never delivered a championship, and Tsai says fans have not let him forget it.
“The Harden decision was definitely on my watch,” Tsai tells Rubenstein. “That’s why I’m hated by fans on social media.”
The book excerpt also goes back to an earlier moment that helped shape the way Tsai thinks about ownership and communication. In July 2018, when Tsai was still a 49% owner of the Nets, GM Sean Marks called to say he was planning a salary-dump trade that would send Jeremy Lin to the Atlanta Hawks. Tsai had previously called Lin his “favorite player” and a “good friend,” and he had praised Lin’s leadership and his role as a representative of the underdog.
According to the book, Tsai told Marks: “Sean, if you trade Jeremy Lin, I will be hated in China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong,” “The entire Chinese community will hate me forever.”
Marks’ response was blunt: “That’s why I’m calling you.”
The trade sent Lin, a 2025 second round draft pick and the right to swap second round picks in 2023 to Atlanta in exchange for the draft rights to French guard Isaia Cordinier and a protected 2020 second round draft pick. The book notes that the 2025 pick was later moved three more times before winding up back with the Nets and being used last June on Tyler Bilodeau.
Tsai’s concern turned out to be justified. Asian fans were upset that an owner with Chinese heritage had moved on from a player with Chinese heritage, and Tsai was heavily criticized across Asia. He and Lin later did business together, and Lin joined the advisory council of The Asian-American Foundation, which Tsai co-founded.
That experience pushed Tsai toward a more direct line to fans. According to the book, he opened a Twitter account over objections from his communications team and promised to stick to sports rather than Alibaba or politics. He has kept that promise, even if he is not especially active on the platform now known as x.com.
“I need to have a direct channel to communicate with our fans,” he told Rubenstein. “I can’t have the New York Post interpret.”
The book also includes a lighter note from Tsai’s Yale days, when he skipped constitutional law classes to play pickup games. One of those opponents was future Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, whom Tsai describes as a “decent player.”
For all the headaches, Tsai says the job still carries a thrill that running Alibaba never could.
“I can be chairman of a public company, but there are thousands of public companies. There are only thirty NBA owners,” Tsai says. “When you have something that other people don’t have, it feels pretty good.”
Rubenstein also interviewed Clara Wu Tsai for the book. In a separately excerpted interview with Bloomberg News, she said Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment is “selectively” interested in other sports investments and described sports as an “asset class” of its own, calling sports the anti-AI.
“As you know, sports has become legitimate asset class and they’ve become very good investment,” she told Rubenstein. “Who knew we’d have to develop an anti-AI?
Who knew live experiences would become so valuable? Who knew something that was unscripted and unpredictable was something that bring people together in a shared experience would be something that was monetizable and also really valued.
But it has happened and sports is some place where that can be manifested.”
In Other News...
Nets Are Finally About To Reveal Their First Real Rotation Clues
The first real look at the 2026-27 Nets is finally on the calendar. Brooklyn announced that Media Day will be held Monday, Sept. 28 at the HSS Training Center, with general manager Sean Marks and head coach Jordi Fernndez set to speak before camp opens the next day. It will be the teams first opportunity to meet with the media ahead of a season that features a blend of returning players and new additions.
From there, the pace picks up quickly. Training camp is scheduled to run through Oct. 5 before the preseason begins, which means the next stretch should offer the clearest early clues yet about how Fernndez intends to sort through the roster and what the rotation might look like once the games start to matter. For a Nets team still taking shape, the next week and change should say plenty, even before the first exhibition tip. [Read more 🡒]
Nets Are Finally Embracing A History Too Many Fans Forgot
For much of the Brooklyn era, the Nets have chased the future more than they have leaned into the past, even though the franchise history is deeper and more decorated than many newer fans realize. From the old New Jersey Americans days in the ABA to the move to Brooklyn in 2012, the organization has worn several identities, and along the way it collected ABA championships, NBA Finals appearances and stars like Julius Erving and Jason Kidd.
Now the team is preparing to make that history part of the show, with theme nights planned to spotlight different decades of the franchises past. It is the kind of move that can reconnect a current fan base with the roots of a team that has traveled a long road, and it suggests the Nets are ready to sell not just where they are now, but the story of how they got here. [Read more 🡒]
Nets Face A Michael Porter Jr. Decision They Can't Avoid
Michael Porter Jr. has been on Brooklyns extension clock since July 6, and the Nets have not been able to push the discussion into the finish line. A potential four-year, $234 million deal is there in theory, but Porter is reportedly seeking a $40 million annual salary, a figure Brooklyn has not agreed to as it weighs what his future should look like after a career season as the teams primary offensive option.
For the Nets, the hesitation is only making the next step more complicated. Porter remains an important scorer, but he is also viewed as a popular trade candidate, which means every quiet week in extension talks only sharpens the question around whether Brooklyn wants to pay him as a core piece or use his value elsewhere. [Read more 🡒]