In a broad, brightly lit Manhattan ballroom, the new owner of the N.B.A.’s worst team made an entrance befitting a Hollywood star. Lights flashed, shutters snapped in rapid-fire fashion and cameras rolled.

Mikhail D. Prokhorov, the suave, swaggering 44-year-old Russian billionaire, strolled up the aisle, took a seat and put on a show. He joked and he jousted, all the while taking great delight in his curious outsider status.

“America,” he said in a thick accent, “I come in peace.”

The room erupted in laughter.

If Prokhorov is as savvy as he is funny, the Nets should have a very bright future indeed.

The N.B.A. last week approved the sale of the Nets from Bruce C. Ratner to Prokhorov, making him the league’s first owner outside of North America. On Wednesday, Prokhorov conducted his first extensive news media tour — a 90-minute breakfast meeting with select reporters, followed by a packed news conference that included 70 reporters and 15 television cameras and finally a radio interview with WFAN’s Mike Francesa.