With plunging temperatures in Lyubertsy no doubt aggravating his surgically repaired left knee, Oklahoma City is looking like a real-life Shangri-La to Nenad Krstic.

Only the notorious Russian winter holds the epic power make Oklahoma City look like paradise to poor Nenad Krstic.

Knowing well the lessons of history, Krstic wanted out before it was too late. If frigid Mother Russia could bring the Nazis and Napoleon to their respective, power-mad knees, what horror might she deliver poor Nenad?

Thus Krstic decided that life with Triumph Lyubertsy was a dead end street and signed an offer sheet with the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday.

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The New Jersey Nets, who selected the 7-foot Serb with the 24th overall pick in the 2002 NBA draft, have until Dec. 30 to match the offer - reportedly in the neighborhood of $16 million for three years.

The offer came two years to the day after Krstic blew out his left knee in a game against the Lakers in East Rutherford, N.J.

Krstic, 25, was averaging 16.4 points and 6.8 rebounds when he got hurt. He struggled last season in his return, averaging 6.6 points and 4.4 rebounds in 45 games.

Draft Express reports that Krstic will have to give back all the money he's earned so far on the two-year, $10 million deal he signed with Triumph this summer.

But hey, whatever it takes to out of Russia and get to Oklahoma City before the Thunder gets its fourth all-time victory.

Krstic, who reportedly carries the nicknames "Curly" and "Ballistic," was once voted Serbia's third-most eligible bachelor in that nation's answer to People magazine. At least that's what it says on the Internet.

Barring an unlikely match by the cash-conscious Nets, who are looking to clear salary-cap space for 2010, Curly Krstic will spend the winter in Oklahoma City with Johan Petro and Robert Swift.

We wish him well.