The Bay Area's basketball team, which happens to be the best team heading into the all-star break, is also the third most valuable organization in the association, according to Forbes' annual "Business of Basketball" list.
The Golden State Warriors current value of $2.6 billion jumped 37 percent compared to this time last year, marking the largest vault in the association — by a lot. The Milwaukee Bucks' 16 percent jump in value was the next highest mark in the NBA.
Back-to-back trips to the NBA Finals, a historic 73-win season last year, the highest television ratings in the association and a naming rights deal from Chase for its new arena in San Francisco are just some of the factors leading Golden State's massive leap to the top of the association's most valuable franchises list. For the sake of comparison, the Warriors were valued at $363 million in 2010, right around the time when current owners Joe Lacob and Peter Gruber purchased the team.
The Warriors currently sit behind the New York Knicks ($3.3 billion) and Los Angeles Lakers ($3 billion) in the value rankings, but that could all change in 2019 when the Warriors make the trip across the San Francisco Bay Bridge and tip off play in their new arena valued at $300 million, Forbes reported.
