Why are some NBA owners considering selling their teams?
In the face of skyrocketing valuations, some owners in the league are said to be contemplating cashing in while there are profits to be made.
Though you might be surprised to hear, a recent report indicates that some NBA owners may in fact be considering the sale of their teams. The obvious question is ‘why?’ Let’s take a look at what we know.
Are NBA owners contemplating selling their teams?
As is the case with many things today, costs are going up and while you might think that can’t be a problem for a billionaire owner of an NBA team, it most certainly is. In keeping with that, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst recently explained, that there are actually some owners in the league who are beginning to consider selling their teams in the next few years. “There’s starting to be some rumblings of some NBA owners maybe looking to sell,” Windhorst said before adding, “That the market is getting ripe for NBA owners to sell.
The NFL effect & other factors
If you missed, it, the NFL’s Denver Broncos recently turned heads with a new North American record after the franchise sold for $4.65 billion back in June. We’ve also seen recent controversy in the Washington Commanders’ front office lead to the team being put up for sale for a reported $7 billion. With this in mind, it’s highly likely that team owners in the NBA have been keeping an eye on such developments, as they look towards negotiation of a new Collective Bargaining Agreement and media rights deals, both of which would assuredly increase the values of their organizations. “There might be some folks sitting on the sideline sort of wondering ‘Should I sell?’ and they’re going to see these numbers,” Windhorst added.
What do NBA team prices and valuations look like?
Though values have since soared to unreal levels, a few of the more notable purchases we can think of include Joe Tsai’s acquisition of the Brooklyn Nets for a total of $2.35 billion in 2019. There was also Tilman Fertitta, who bought the Houston Rockets for the sum of $2.2 billion in 2017. Where values are concerned, the Golden State Warriors lead the way with an estimated worth of $7 billion according to Forbes, but it should be said that the average team is worth approximately $2.86 billion, which in itself marks a 15% rise from one year ago. At present there are 20 different teams in the league that are worth around $2 billion. What this all means, is that were owners to sell in the near future, they’d likely make a sizeable profit, which is to say don’t surprised if that’s exactly what we start to see around the league.