Mikhail Prokhorov backed away from his claim that the NBA had given him permission to make the Brooklyn Nets a Russian-based company without admitting that he had ever made it.

His company, Onexim Sports and Entertainment, issued a statement that described how during preliminary discussions with the NBA in the spring of 2013, the league “indicated its willingness to work with us in the event we need to re-register the ownership vehicle of the Nets as a Russian entity to comply with the Russian law regarding candidates for political office.”

The statement added, “This is a long process which may or may not come to fruition, and nothing is imminent.”

Making the Nets a Russian company might help Prokhorov’s political prospects.