An assassination in Moscow that has basketball connections: Businessman and former spy Shabtai Kalmanovich was murdered.

Three woman Euroleague trophies belong to his team: Spartak Moscow Region. From the December '08 Sports Illustrated article:

And then there are Kalmanovic's women. More precisely, there are his female basketball players, the three gemstones of which reside on the southern edge of Moscow, in a gated villa replete with sauna, indoor pool and on-call cook, and are showcased on his Spartak Moscow Region Vidnoe team, the defending Russian and Euroleague champions.

A discerning collector would be sure to acquire only the finest specimens, and so Kalmanovic has. This season Spartak features seven Olympic medalists, including the players he regards as the world's best at their positions: guards Sue Bird and Diana Taurasi and center Lauren Jackson.

From an ESPN article a few years back: "Rolling in the Rubles"

Taurasi and Bird understand the economics of the WNBA — there is no Kalmonovich willing to pay players $400,000 or more, let alone one for each of the league's 13 teams — and they don't complain. Heck, a WNBA team (the Charlotte Sting) just folded. That said, they also think there will come a day — perhaps in two years, maybe in 10 — but someday, when the WNBA reaches some agreement with the European leagues. Otherwise, they say, players will eventually leave the WNBA and take the money in Europe while it's there.

"You work for the WNBA," Taurasi said. "Obviously, they want us to prioritize the WNBA as being No. 1 on our list, but the reality is other people are paying the bills. That's the way it is."

"You know you're going to make X amount of money in the WNBA," ird said. "It's not going to vanish. Right now in Russia, it's because Shabtai wants to make the investment. What if he wakes up tomorrow and he doesn't want to do it anymore?"