Nearly 76 years ago Wednesday, the Basketball Association of America and the National Basketball League merged to form the National Basketball Association (NBA), a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams, with 29 in the U.S. and one in Canada.
Since then, the NBA has become the top basketball league in the world, gaining a massive fanbase that continues to grow yearly thanks to its passionate followers who have infused the sport into American culture.
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The NBA has an aggregated value of approximately $140 billion, with each team's average valuation of around $4.66 billion as of 2025.
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This places the NBA as the second-most lucrative sports league in the world after the National Football League (NFL), which has an aggregated value of approximately $163 billion.
An inside into the NBA team valuations for 2025
According to CNBC's Official NBA Team Valuations 2025, the most valuable NBA team on the list is the Golden State Warriors. Although it is the 10th-best team in the NBA's Western Conference Standings for the 2024-2025 season, it has an impressive $9.4 billion valuation and annual revenue of $781 million.
The New York Knicks follow the Golden State Warriors with a value of $7.5 billion and annual revenue of $578 million. The Knicks occupy the second spot even though they haven't won an NBA championship since 1973.
In third place are the Los Angeles Lakers, with a value of $7 billion, then the Chicago Bulls, who are fourth, with a value of $5.8 billion, and the Houston Rockets, who are fifth, with a value of $5.7 billion.
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The Memphis Grizzlies have the second-best record in the Western Conference. But even though they're ranked very high in the conference's standings, they have the lowest valuation of all the teams, with a value of $3.2 billion and revenue of $299 million.
As surprising as this may sound to some, the truth is that it doesn't really matter how bad or good a team is because even if it consistently loses, its loyal fans will continue attending the games at billion-dollar sports arenas. It ultimately all comes down to factors outside the court.
A breakdown of how team valuations in the NBA work
All 30 franchises are categorized by markets, which can be big or small based on their locations, population size, and regional economic index. A team with a bigger market like California, which has a population of over 39 million, would most likely have a bigger fanbase to sell to than Tennessee, which has a population of around 7 million.
A strong fanbase is essential because the bigger the fanbase, the more regional television broadcasting contracts it signs, the more merchandise profits it makes, the more sponsorships it receives, and the more tickets it sells.
The NBA financially operates on a revenue-sharing system, meaning it redistributes the money between all franchises based on the league's salary cap to address team inequities and maintain a competitive balance. This system is not included in basketball-related income.
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One main factor that can make or break any sports league franchise's valuation is the ownership of its stadium since it's one of any team's main assets. If a team owns its stadium, its valuation is higher.
However, if a team doesn't own its stadium, the franchise must pay rent and give the building's owner a percentage of all earnings, which only lowers its valuation ranking.
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