Report: Warriors lead way as NBA team values hit $4.6B average

The NBA, where a Big Three combination of players often proves successful on the floor, has a Big Three in terms of franchise value, too.

The Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers are the league's most valuable franchises by a long distance, Sportico announced in its annual assessment on Wednesday.

The Warriors are worth $9.14 billion, the Knicks $8.3 billion and the Lakers $8.07 billion, per the report. Golden State is considered the second most valuable franchise in U.S. sports, trailing only the Dallas Cowboys ($10.3 billion).

The assessments include ownership's real estate as well as team-related businesses such as WNBA franchises.

The average NBA team is worth $4.6 billion, a 15 percent rise over last year and nearly twice the worth from four years ago.

The Warriors, who have an affiliated WNBA expansion team set to start next year, saw their value go up 10 percent from 2023. The Knicks had a 12 percent rise, and the Lakers had a 10 percent hike.

The Brooklyn Nets are fourth on the list with a $5.7 billion value, a rise of 43 percent from the club's 13th-place ranking last year. Billboard cited the Nets' Barclays Center venue as the world's highest-grossing arena as of April.

Rounding out the top 10 are the Los Angeles Clippers ($5.68 billion), the for-sale Boston Celtics ($5.66 billion), the Chicago Bulls ($5.56 billion), the Miami Heat ($5 billion), the Houston Rockets ($4.77 billion) and the Toronto Raptors ($4.66 billion).

Among the top 10 franchises, only the Lakers and Celtics don't control their venues.

The bottom three on the list are the Minnesota Timberwolves ($3.29 billion), the New Orleans Pelicans ($3.09 billion) and the Memphis Grizzlies ($3.06 billion).

Per Sportico, NBA teams have a higher value-to-revenue ratio than those of any other major U.S. sports league. On that list, MLS is second, followed in order by the NFL, the NHL, the WNBA, the NWSL and MLB.

--Field Level Media