Over 18,000 fans were on hand at the TD Garden to take in the Celtics' Game 5 tilt with the Los Angeles Lakers. Three of them raised some eyebrows.
Mikhail Prokhorov, the self-made Russian billionaire entrepreneur and the new owner of the New Jersey Nets, sat in the front row at the Garden alongside his newly hired head coach, Avery Johnson. In the second row, seated immediately behind Prokhorov, was NBA free agent-to-be Dwyane Wade.
Wade is just finishing up a three-year, $63 million contract extension with the Miami Heat, and he has an option to return next season. With the hype surrounding him, LeBron James and the rest of the NBA's monster free agent class, there has been speculation that Wade may leave. The Nets, with their plentiful salary-cap space and free-spending new owner, are a prime candidate.
It may be nothing. But the sight of Wade mingling in public with Nets brass is just begging for speculation.
Until July 1, when the free-agent class officially hits the open market, speculation is all we have.
