All 30 franchises, ranked. Aggregated from Forbes 2025 with revenue, operating income, and year-over-year change. The Institute's plain-English reference for readers who want to understand what pro basketball is worth as a business — and how the league's new $76B media deal and international growth reshaped valuations in one year.
Source: Forbes, The NBA's Most Valuable Teams 2025, by Justin Teitelbaum and Brett Knight. Published December 4, 2025 (updated January 8, 2026). Forbes original article →
What the Institute adds. We save the reader the time to aggregate and check sources — every valuation on this page traces to Forbes with the publication date noted — and we bring an original point of view once the record is on the table. Thirty-one years as a CPA, plus decades as a controller, CFO, and family-office operator, sit behind the read of what the numbers mean for franchise economics, ownership succession, and league-level trends. Aggregation is the floor; the practitioner interpretation is the reason to read us.
What the reader should know: Forbes' figures blend team-level financials with market, arena/stadium, and brand value. They are the most-cited valuations in the sport but they are estimates, not audited disclosures — NBA teams do not publish audited financial statements.
| # | Team | State / Province | Value | YoY | Revenue | Op. Income |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Golden State Warriors | California | $11.00B | +37% | $820M | $126M |
| 2 | New York Knicks | New York | $10.75B | +43% | $630M | $134M |
| 3 | Los Angeles Lakers | California | $10.10B | +42% | $573M | $134M |
| 4 | Boston Celtics | Massachusetts | $7.30B | +43% | $524M | $103M |
| 5 | Chicago Bulls | Illinois | $6.10B | +30% | $396M | $114M |
| 6 | Los Angeles Clippers | California | $5.50B | +35% | $427M | $44M |
| 7 | Philadelphia 76ers | Pennsylvania | $5.10B | +30% | $427M | $54M |
| 8 | Dallas Mavericks | Texas | $5.05B | +37% | $390M | $36M |
| 9 | Houston Rockets | Texas | $5.00B | +32% | $402M | $48M |
| 10 | Miami Heat | Florida | $4.90B | +32% | $425M | $28M |
| 11 | Brooklyn Nets | New York | $4.85B | +33% | $430M | $27M |
| 12 | Toronto Raptors | Ontario | $4.60B | +40% | $427M | $28M |
| 13 | Phoenix Suns | Arizona | $4.55B | +30% | $424M | $18M |
| 14 | Denver Nuggets | Colorado | $4.50B | +52% | $387M | $35M |
| 15 | Washington Wizards | District of Columbia | $4.40B | +42% | $367M | $27M |
| 16 | Milwaukee Bucks | Wisconsin | $4.30B | +38% | $390M | $21M |
| 17 | Cleveland Cavaliers | Ohio | $4.20B | +34% | $389M | $32M |
| 18 | Sacramento Kings | California | $4.15B | +38% | $346M | $8M |
| 19 | Atlanta Hawks | Georgia | $4.10B | +37% | $332M | $14M |
| 20 | Detroit Pistons | Michigan | $4.05B | +35% | $338M | $14M |
| 21 | San Antonio Spurs | Texas | $4.00B | +29% | $343M | $3M |
| 22 | Utah Jazz | Utah | $3.95B | +41% | $342M | $6M |
| 23 | Portland Trail Blazers | Oregon | $3.85B | +38% | $320M | $1M |
| 24 | Oklahoma City Thunder | Oklahoma | $3.80B | +41% | $333M | $59M |
| 25 | Charlotte Hornets | North Carolina | $3.75B | +32% | $319M | $8M |
| 26 | Indiana Pacers | Indiana | $3.70B | +34% | $330M | $29M |
| 27 | Orlando Magic | Florida | $3.65B | +35% | $326M | $21M |
| 28 | Minnesota Timberwolves | Minnesota | $3.60B | +35% | $310M | $8M |
| 29 | New Orleans Pelicans | Louisiana | $3.55B | +30% | $314M | $21M |
| 30 | Memphis Grizzlies | Tennessee | $3.50B | +36% | $308M | $26M |
All figures rounded per Forbes reporting convention. Operating income is stated pre-interest, tax, depreciation, amortization, and non-cash items — consistent with Forbes' methodology across leagues.
The Institute's plain-English read of the 2025 Forbes NBA data:
1. The whole league is worth about $162 billion. Summing the 30 franchise valuations produces an aggregate market value of roughly $162 billion — up from about $120 billion a year ago. The 35% year-over-year lift is the largest in the league's Forbes tracking history.
2. The new $76B media deal is the story. In July 2024 the NBA locked in an 11-year national media package with Disney, NBCUniversal, and Amazon at roughly $6.9B per year — nearly triple the prior deal. Every franchise's national-revenue share stepped up sharply, and the market repriced accordingly.
3. Warriors, Knicks, and Lakers each cleared $10 billion. That is a new threshold in the sport — the first time three NBA franchises are simultaneously worth eight figures per fan seat. Golden State's arena ownership, New York's market and MSG package, and the Lakers' brand-plus-market combination each drive the premium in a different way.
4. The Denver Nuggets +52% is the largest one-year revaluation. Championship year plus strong local-media renewal drove the move; the Kroenke ownership vehicle (which also owns the NHL Avalanche and stadium) shares fixed cost across teams.
5. Operating income spans a wide range even within the same league. Warriors generate $126M in operating income on $820M in revenue (15% margin). Grizzlies generate $26M on $308M (8% margin). The Oklahoma City Thunder run the best margin in the league — $59M on $333M (18%) — on a small-market cost structure and a favorable arena deal.
The Baratelli Institute does not produce original NBA franchise valuations. Forbes does that, Sportico does that, Sports Business Journal does that. We aggregate what those sources publish into a single reference destination and then bring a practitioner's read to what the numbers mean — how franchise valuations connect to family-office capital structure, how arena and stadium deals interact with municipal bond markets, how media rights economics compare across leagues, and how ownership succession is playing out at individual clubs.
Every number on this page traces to a filed or published source. The Forbes 2025 ranking is the primary source. Historical valuations trace to Forbes' annual publications. Where per-team pages include salary cap detail, they source from Over The Cap, Spotrac, or PuckPedia with the reference date noted. Where we discuss ownership, we source from public filings, press disclosures, and the ownership family's own communications. Where we discuss arena or stadium economics, we source from municipal bond issuances, lease agreements filed with local governments, and league-published revenue-sharing formulas.
The reader who wants a specialist's read on any single team should start here, then read the primary sources and the team's local press coverage. We are a starting point that saves the reader the time to aggregate the field — and a practitioner voice once the record is on the table.
Primary source: Forbes 2025 NBA Team Valuations, by Justin Teitelbaum and Brett Knight. December 4, 2025 (updated January 8, 2026). Forbes original →
Institute contribution: aggregation into a single reference destination, plain-English read of what the ranking means, cross-references to case studies, ownership and arena/stadium context, cross-league benchmarking.
Corroborating sources: Wikipedia's Forbes list of the most valuable NBA teams (updated 2025); prior Forbes rankings; league revenue-sharing disclosures; individual team press releases.
Refresh cadence: annual, following Forbes' publication. Next update expected December 2026 for the Forbes 2026 ranking.
Editorial disclosure: the Institute has no financial relationship with any NBA franchise, Forbes, Sportico, or any other data source referenced. Published as an educational reference. Not investment advice.