Every NBA team owner (2026)
The NBA in 2026 is a $100-plus-billion-valuation enterprise. The 30 franchises are owned by a roster of billionaires, private-equity groups, Russian oligarchs, tech entrepreneurs, and multi-generational family estates. The median NBA team valuation (per Forbes 2025) is approximately $3.2 billion. The highest-valued franchises (Golden State Warriors, New York Knicks, Los Angeles Lakers) are each valued above $7 billion. The lowest (Memphis Grizzlies, New Orleans Pelicans) are each valued below $2 billion.
The following is the current ownership of each NBA franchise as of April 2026.
Eastern Conference
| Franchise | Majority Owner | Year Acquired | Purchase Price | Net Worth 2025 | Primary Business |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Atlanta Hawks | Tony Ressler | 2015 | $850M | $8.8B | Ares Management (private equity) |
| Boston Celtics | Wyc Grousbeck | 2002 | $360M | $1.5B+ | Causeway Media Partners |
| Brooklyn Nets | Joe Tsai | 2019 | $2.35B | $10.6B | Alibaba Group |
| Charlotte Hornets | Gabe Plotkin & Rick Schnall | 2023 | $3.0B | Varies | Melvin Capital / Clayton Dubilier & Rice |
| Chicago Bulls | Jerry Reinsdorf | 1985 | $16M | $2.1B | Reinsdorf family trust; also owns MLB’s Chicago White Sox |
| Cleveland Cavaliers | Dan Gilbert | 2005 | $375M | $20B | Rocket Companies (Quicken Loans) |
| Detroit Pistons | Tom Gores | 2011 | $325M | $9.7B | Platinum Equity (private equity) |
| Indiana Pacers | Herb Simon | 1983 | $11M | $3.0B | Simon Property Group (REIT) |
| Miami Heat | Micky Arison | 1995 | $65M | $8.5B | Carnival Corporation |
| Milwaukee Bucks | Wes Edens & Jimmy/Dee Haslam | 2014 (Edens); 2023 (Haslams) | $550M original, $3.5B Haslam purchase | Edens $3B / Haslams $10B+ | Fortress Investment Group / Cleveland Browns-Pilot Flying J |
| New York Knicks | James Dolan (MSG Sports) | 2022 merger, inherited | N/A | $2.5B | Madison Square Garden Sports Corporation (public company) |
| Orlando Magic | DeVos Family Trust | 1991 | $85M | $15B (family) | Amway Corporation |
| Philadelphia 76ers | Josh Harris & David Blitzer | 2011 | $280M | $9B (Harris), $3B (Blitzer) | Apollo Global Management / Blackstone Group |
| Toronto Raptors | Rogers Communications (75% via MLSE) | 2024 acquisition of Bell stake | $4.7B paid to Bell | $10.1B (Rogers family) | Rogers Communications (telecommunications) |
| Washington Wizards | Monumental Sports / Ted Leonsis | 2010 | $551M | $1.4B | America Online / Monumental Sports |
Western Conference
| Franchise | Majority Owner | Year Acquired | Purchase Price | Net Worth 2025 | Primary Business |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dallas Mavericks | Miriam Adelson (Adelson family) | 2023 | $3.5B | $35B (family) | Las Vegas Sands Corporation |
| Denver Nuggets | Stan Kroenke | 2000 | $202M | $16.9B | Kroenke Sports & Entertainment (LA Rams, Arsenal FC) |
| Golden State Warriors | Joe Lacob & Peter Guber | 2010 | $450M | $3.5B (Lacob) | Kleiner Perkins / Mandalay Entertainment |
| Houston Rockets | Tilman Fertitta | 2017 | $2.2B | $8.9B | Landry’s Inc. (restaurants / casinos) |
| Los Angeles Clippers | Steve Ballmer | 2014 | $2.0B | $132B | Former Microsoft CEO |
| Los Angeles Lakers | Jeanie Buss / Buss Family Trust | 1979 | $67.5M (Jerry Buss) | $3B (family) | Buss family trust |
| Memphis Grizzlies | Robert Pera | 2012 | $377M | $6.3B | Ubiquiti Networks |
| Minnesota Timberwolves | Marc Lore & Alex Rodriguez | 2025 | $1.5B | $6B (Lore) / $450M (Rodriguez) | Wonder Group / former MLB player |
| New Orleans Pelicans | Gayle Benson (Benson Family Trust) | 2018 (inherited) | N/A | $7.5B (family) | New Orleans Saints / Benson Capital |
| Oklahoma City Thunder | Professional Basketball Club LLC (Clay Bennett) | 2006 | $350M | $2B (Bennett) | Dorchester Capital Advisors |
| Phoenix Suns | Mat Ishbia | 2023 | $4.0B | $8.8B | United Wholesale Mortgage |
| Portland Trail Blazers | Jody Allen (Paul Allen estate) | 2018 (inherited) | $70M (1988 purchase by Paul Allen) | $8B (estate, non-personal) | Microsoft / Vulcan Inc. |
| Sacramento Kings | Vivek Ranadivé | 2013 | $535M | $800M | TIBCO Software |
| San Antonio Spurs | Peter Holt / Holt family (Spurs Sports & Entertainment) | 1996 | ~$75M | $1.5B (family) | Holt Caterpillar dealership |
| Utah Jazz | Ryan Smith | 2020 | $1.66B | $3.4B | Qualtrics (SAP) |
Notes on key ownership groups
The Mark Cuban sale to the Adelson family (December 2023)
Mark Cuban sold the Dallas Mavericks to the Adelson family (heirs of Las Vegas Sands Corp. founder Sheldon Adelson, whose widow Miriam Adelson inherited the fortune) in December 2023 for $3.5 billion. Cuban retained a minority stake and was retained as an active basketball-operations advisor through the 2024-25 season, and resigned from the role after the February 2025 Luka Dončić trade (detail on our Dallas Mavericks franchise page).
The 2020-2025 Minnesota Timberwolves ownership saga
Glen Taylor’s 2021 agreement to sell the Minnesota Timberwolves to Marc Lore and Alex Rodriguez was the subject of a 2024-2025 dispute that led to NBA-appointed arbitration. The arbitration panel ruled in Lore and Rodriguez’s favor on February 12, 2025, and the transfer was completed on November 18, 2025 (detail on our Minnesota Timberwolves franchise page).
The Haslam Brothers’ 2023 Milwaukee acquisition
Jimmy and Dee Haslam (majority owners of the NFL’s Cleveland Browns and the MLS’s Columbus Crew, who also own Pilot Flying J travel centers) purchased Marc Lasry’s 25% majority stake in the Milwaukee Bucks in April 2023 for approximately $3.5 billion, valuing the franchise at approximately $3.5 billion. Wes Edens remains the managing owner and the operational decision-maker.
The Toronto Raptors’ 2024 Rogers majority move
Rogers Communications’s September 2024 purchase of Bell Canada’s 37.5% stake in Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment for $4.7 billion gave Rogers 75% control of MLSE (and therefore of the Toronto Raptors). The deal was approved by the NBA in March 2025 (detail on our Toronto Raptors franchise page).
The Steve Ballmer ownership (2014-present)
Steve Ballmer purchased the Los Angeles Clippers in 2014 for $2.0 billion. At the time it was the highest price paid for an NBA franchise. Ballmer’s net worth of approximately $132 billion (per Forbes 2025) is the highest of any current NBA majority owner.
The ownership composition
Of the 30 majority ownership interests:
- 21 are individual billionaires (or billionaire-led groups).
- 5 are family trusts / estates (Buss family for the Lakers, DeVos family for the Magic, Simon family for the Pacers, Benson family for the Pelicans, Allen estate for the Trail Blazers).
- 2 are private-equity / tech entrepreneurs with primary non-sports business.
- 1 is a publicly-traded corporation (MSG Sports for the Knicks).
- 1 is a telecommunications conglomerate (Rogers for the Raptors).
The aggregate wealth of the 30 majority ownership interests is, on Forbes’s 2025 estimates, approximately $350 billion.
The shift from legacy owners to finance and tech capital
The ownership class of the NBA has changed structurally since roughly 2012. The franchises that changed hands in the 1980s and 1990s were sold at prices ($16M for the Bulls in 1985, $67.5M for the Lakers in 1979) accessible to successful regional businesspeople, wealthy real-estate families, or self-made entrepreneurs in traditional industries. Jerry Reinsdorf (real estate), Herb Simon (retail real-estate REIT), the DeVos family (Amway), the Buss family (Los Angeles real estate) all fit that profile.
The franchises that changed hands between 2012 and 2026 crossed into a price range that closed off that older owner class entirely. The Clippers at $2.0 billion in 2014, the Bucks at $3.5 billion in 2023, the Suns at $4.0 billion in 2023, the Mavericks at $3.5 billion in 2023: these are prices that require a buyer in the top few hundred names on the Forbes list, nearly all of them from finance (private equity, hedge funds, or venture capital) or technology.
The practical effect on team operations has been debated. Private-equity buyers tend to bring institutional capital-allocation thinking: treat the franchise as an asset, optimize revenue streams, build the real-estate and entertainment complex around the arena as a compounding investment. Clay Bennett’s OKC, one of the smaller-market franchises by city size, is the counterargument to the “big-market tech billionaire” model: consistent basketball-operations investment has produced the 67-15 2026 squad without the billion-dollar arena politics that define franchises in New York, Los Angeles, or Phoenix.
The 2025 Disney and NBC media-rights deal at $76 billion over 11 years is the upstream reason franchise valuations tripled between 2020 and 2025. Broadcast revenue guaranteed at that level makes every NBA franchise a yield-producing asset, not just a trophy. That changes who wants to buy one.
Gear
Browse The Book of Basketball for how ownership decisions shaped these franchises, and shop your team’s gear on Fanatics.
The Book of Basketball on Amazon →
Sources
Individual franchise-level ownership details are covered on each team’s individual franchise page on this site. Personal net worth figures are from Forbes’s 2025 billionaires list. The corporate-structure details for Madison Square Garden Sports, MLSE, Monumental Sports, and the other corporate-ownership vehicles are from their respective SEC and Canadian regulatory filings.
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