The new $3m-a-year Brooklyn Nets star whose wife lets him play away from home: Player allowed to cheat once a year
- Russian-born Andrei Kirilenko has been given an 'allowance' by his popstar wife that allows him to have sex with another woman once a year
By DAVID MCCORMACK PUBLISHED: 13:17 GMT, 13 July 2013 | UPDATED: 16:16 GMT, 13 July 2013
Many a sporting wife has had trouble keeping their superstar husband in check. But that problem is less of an issue for the woman married to the Brooklyn Nets latest signing. The former Minnesota Timberwolves star Andrei Kirilenko has agreed to a two-year deal with the Nets worth an estimated $3.18 million a year. On the court the 32-year-old has achieved a reputation as a versatile ‘big man’, while off it his unusual relationship with his wife - Russian pop singer Masha Lopatova - has hit the headlines.
New Brooklyn Nets star Kirilenko gets an 'allowance' from his Russian popstar wife Masha Lopatova which permits him to have sex with another woman once a year
Lopatova – whose stage name is MaLo - has revealed that she and her husband have an agreement which allows him to have sex with another woman once a year. ‘Male athletes in this country are extremely attractive. They get chased by women. It's hard to resist. It's the way men are by nature,’ she told ESPN The Magazine when he first hit the big time.
The 'allowance' isn't a reciprocal agreement, but that she said: 'If I know about it, it's not cheating.' At the time Kirilenko said he had no plans to exercise his ‘allowance’, although he joked that girls would be lining up outside his hotel door.
Former Minnesota Timberwolves Andrei Kirilenko has agreed to a two-year deal with the Nets worth an estimated $3.18 million a year
At the time that his wife revealed her husband's 'allowance', Kirilenko said he had no plans to exercise it and joked that girls would be lining up outside his hotel door
Since then it isn't clear if Kirilenko has ever taken advantage, but the couple remain together and so something is clearly working. They have been married for 13 years and have two sons Fedya, age 11, and Stepan, age six. In January 2011, Andrei and Masha acquired American citizenship. Lopatova, the daughter of Russian basketball player Andrei Lopatov, met Kirilenko at a youth basketball camp in Moscow. Soon afterwards he appeared in one of her music videos. 'I find that people in this country are really interested in athletes and their [families], for some reason. They don't want to know what kind of books I read, but they prefer to know what kind of underwear I wear,' she once told ESPN.Kirilenko became the first Russian player selected in the first round of a draft and the youngest European player drafted in 1999. He made the NBA All-Rookie Team after his first season, was an NBA All-Defensive Team pick three times and played in the 2004 All-Star Game.
The couple have been married for 13 years and have two sons Fedya, age 11, and Stepan, age six
At the 2012 Summer Olympics he won a bronze medal with Russia. The Nets deal represents a steep pay cut for Kirilenko, reports New York magazine.
He recently opted out of a contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves that would have paid him $10 million this year, only to discover that nobody else was willing or able to spend that kind of money on him. Fortunately for Kirilenko, Nets owner and fellow Russian Mikhail Prokhorov has a net worth of $13 billion and is bankrolling a basketball dream-team in Brooklyn. The Nets have brought in a host of top talent including Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce from the Boston Celtics. Prior to signing Kirilenko, the Nets were set to owe $75 million in luxury taxes this season — more than the taxes paid by all 30 NBA teams combined last year.
Masha met Kirilenko at a youth basketball camp in Moscow, he featured in the music video for her single 'Sugary' which reached number one on MTV Russia
Many a sporting wife has had trouble keeping their superstar husband in check. But that problem is less of an issue for the woman married to the Brooklyn Nets latest signing. The former Minnesota Timberwolves star Andrei Kirilenko has agreed to a two-year deal with the Nets worth an estimated $3.18 million a year. On the court the 32-year-old has achieved a reputation as a versatile ‘big man’, while off it his unusual relationship with his wife - Russian pop singer Masha Lopatova - has hit the headlines.
New Brooklyn Nets star Kirilenko gets an 'allowance' from his Russian popstar wife Masha Lopatova which permits him to have sex with another woman once a year
Lopatova – whose stage name is MaLo - has revealed that she and her husband have an agreement which allows him to have sex with another woman once a year. ‘Male athletes in this country are extremely attractive. They get chased by women. It's hard to resist. It's the way men are by nature,’ she told ESPN The Magazine when he first hit the big time.
The 'allowance' isn't a reciprocal agreement, but that she said: 'If I know about it, it's not cheating.' At the time Kirilenko said he had no plans to exercise his ‘allowance’, although he joked that girls would be lining up outside his hotel door.
Former Minnesota Timberwolves Andrei Kirilenko has agreed to a two-year deal with the Nets worth an estimated $3.18 million a year
At the time that his wife revealed her husband's 'allowance', Kirilenko said he had no plans to exercise it and joked that girls would be lining up outside his hotel door
Since then it isn't clear if Kirilenko has ever taken advantage, but the couple remain together and so something is clearly working. They have been married for 13 years and have two sons Fedya, age 11, and Stepan, age six. In January 2011, Andrei and Masha acquired American citizenship. Lopatova, the daughter of Russian basketball player Andrei Lopatov, met Kirilenko at a youth basketball camp in Moscow. Soon afterwards he appeared in one of her music videos. 'I find that people in this country are really interested in athletes and their [families], for some reason. They don't want to know what kind of books I read, but they prefer to know what kind of underwear I wear,' she once told ESPN.Kirilenko became the first Russian player selected in the first round of a draft and the youngest European player drafted in 1999. He made the NBA All-Rookie Team after his first season, was an NBA All-Defensive Team pick three times and played in the 2004 All-Star Game.
The couple have been married for 13 years and have two sons Fedya, age 11, and Stepan, age six
At the 2012 Summer Olympics he won a bronze medal with Russia. The Nets deal represents a steep pay cut for Kirilenko, reports New York magazine.
He recently opted out of a contract with the Minnesota Timberwolves that would have paid him $10 million this year, only to discover that nobody else was willing or able to spend that kind of money on him. Fortunately for Kirilenko, Nets owner and fellow Russian Mikhail Prokhorov has a net worth of $13 billion and is bankrolling a basketball dream-team in Brooklyn. The Nets have brought in a host of top talent including Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce from the Boston Celtics. Prior to signing Kirilenko, the Nets were set to owe $75 million in luxury taxes this season — more than the taxes paid by all 30 NBA teams combined last year.
Masha met Kirilenko at a youth basketball camp in Moscow, he featured in the music video for her single 'Sugary' which reached number one on MTV Russia
