The Los Angeles Lakers are once again the most valuable franchise in the NBA, re-claiming the top spot from the New York Knicks. Forbes is now listing the Lakers as the most valuable NBA franchise, and is crediting much of this to their massive new deal with Time Warner Cable.
Forbes estimates that the Lakers are worth approximately $900 million, which is an increase of 40 percent over last year. After the Knicks reclaimed the top spot briefly, the local television deal with Time Warner Cable put them back over the top.
The deal is expected to pay the Buss family nearly $200 million per year for 20 years. As NBC Pro Basketball points out, the entire value of the Milwaukee Bucks franchise is just $268 million. While many people thought the new league revenue sharing rules would actually hurt the Lakers significantly, with this cable deal they will be just fine.
After the Lakers are the New York Knicks, valued at around $790 million. The rest of the top five are the Chicago Bulls ($600 million), Dallas Mavericks ($479 million) and the Boston Celtics ($482 million.).
