The National Basketball Association posted modest growth during the 2024-25 season but still saw three teams — the Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers — reach valuations of at least $10 billion. Average revenue for the league's 30 teams came in at $416 million, 6.7% more than the previous season. The average value of an NBA team is now $5.52 billion, 18% more than a year ago. NBA teams are fetching record amounts thanks in part to a national media rights package that started with the 2025-26 season and according to S & P Global is worth $75.9 billion over 11 years, 2.6 times the league's previous rights package on an average annual basis. In August, the NBA approved the sale of a controlling stake in the Boston Celtics to a group led by Bill Chisholm at a $6.3 billion valuation, according to several league executives, who asked not to be named because the deals are private. At the time, that was a record price for a sports team and 14.5% more than CNBC's valuation six months earlier . Chisholm's group is scheduled to buy a second tranche of the Celtics in 2028 that will bring the valuation to $6.5 billion, according to these sources. The deal values the Celtics at more than 14 times the team's 2024-25 revenue of $439 million. The record valuation for the Celtics didn't last long. Just two months after that deal, the league approved Mark Walter's purchase of a controlling stake in the Lakers at a valuation of $10 billion, 42.9% above CNBC's valuation the previous February. The sale price was more than 17 times the team's 2024-25 revenue of $565 million. And in September, Tom Dundon, who owns the National Hockey League's Carolina Hurricanes, reached an agreement to purchase the Portland Trail Blazers for $4.1 billion, 12.3% higher than CNBC'S 2025 valuation . Dundon is scheduled to complete the purchase of the first 80% of the team in March and the remainder in 2½ years. If the sale goes through on those terms, the Trail Blazers will go for 13 times 2024-25 revenue of $315 million. The purchase valuations of the Celtics, Lakers and Trail Blazers — confirmed by league and team executives, who asked not to be named because the deals are private — helped push up the average value to 13.3 times the average revenue for the 30 NBA teams, compared with a multiple of 11.9 a year ago. A new arena can also boost a team's bottom line. The Los Angeles Clippers moved into the new Intuit Dome last season. Both the team and arena are owned by Steve Ballmer, and the Clippers now get all the money from events at their arena, said a spokesperson for the Clippers. Previously the Clippers were tenants at Crypto.com Arena, which is owned by Philip Anschutz, who also owns the NHL's Los Angeles Kings. At that arena, the Kings and the Lakers got the lion's share of revenue. Last season, the Clippers had revenue of $492 million, 40% more than the previous season. The value of the Clippers increased 28% over the past year to $6.9 billion, bringing the team to fourth place on our valuation rankings, as they leapfrogged the Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets, Brooklyn Nets and the Celtics. Methodology CNBC's team valuations are enterprise values — equity plus net debt — for controlling stakes and include non-NBA arena revenue that goes to team owners. We exclude ownership stakes in other assets, such as WNBA teams, regional sports networks and mixed-use real estate. Figures for revenue and EBITDA — earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization — are for the 2024-25 season and are net of revenue sharing and the 25% of nonpremium home playoff gate revenue that goes toward the revenue-sharing pool. EBITDA is also net of luxury tax payments. Figures for the Toronto Raptors are in U.S. dollars based on the average exchange rate from June 2024 to June 2025. We use revenue multiples to calculate our valuations based on historical team sale prices for controlling stakes as well as insight from sports bankers and investors. Our revenue and EBITDA figures are derived from team owners, investors and executives; sports bankers and league consultants; public documents such as stadium lease agreements, stadium authority budgets and audits, and credit rating reports; and sponsorship and broadcasting industry executives. Figures that could not be confirmed with sources are CNBC estimates. — CNBC's Hector Fadraga contributed to this report. Correction: This story has been revised to reflect that the owner of the Los Angeles Clippers is Steve Ballmer. A previous version misspelled his name.
