Stephen Curry’s run has transformed the Warriors into the NBA’s financial powerhouse, and Sportico’s latest valuation projections show just how far the franchise has climbed. Golden State sits alone at No. 1 on the league’s valuation list at $14.5 billion, ahead of the Knicks and Lakers and up 28% from its 2025 valuation of $11.3 billion.
The league as a whole is valued at $199 billion, but no team comes close to the Warriors. Joe Lacob and his ownership group bought the franchise in July 2010 for an estimated $450 million, then watched it explode in value over the next 16 years. That’s an increase of more than 3,100%, or $14.05 billion from 2010 to 2026.
Curry has been the face of the rise, but the roster-building around him helped fuel the surge. Golden State already had Curry, then drafted Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, added Andre Iguodala in 2013 and brought in Steve Kerr as head coach in 2014. From there, the franchise turned into the league’s standard-bearer.
The Knicks are second at $12.8 billion, while the Lakers are third at $12.5 billion. New York’s recent championship run during the 2025-26 season pushed it past Los Angeles for the No. 2 spot on this year’s rankings.
The Lakers had ranked second last year after their $10 billion sale to Mark Walter in 2025, but now sit third with a valuation of $12.5 billion - the same figure paid by the group led by Josh Kushner and Bob Iger when it bought the franchise from Walter this summer.
At the other end of the list, the Memphis Grizzlies are 30th at $4.2 billion.
The bigger picture is just as striking for the league. Sportico says the average NBA team is valued at a 14.6 multiple, up 13.5% from 2025 and the highest among the major North American leagues, ahead of the NFL (12.7), NHL (9.4), MLS (9.2) and MLB (7.2).
Revenue is climbing too. During the 2025-26 season, NBA teams generated an estimated $13.7 billion, or about $456 million per club. That’s the second-highest average among the major leagues, behind only the NFL at $733 million.
Golden State’s numbers are even more eye-catching. The Warriors’ average revenue was $895 million net of their revenue-sharing bill, which was 26% higher than the Knicks’ reported revenue.
With the NBA’s new 11-year, $76 billion media deal about to begin, more teams becoming title threats and talent spreading across the country, the league’s financial momentum shows no sign of slowing. Expansion discussions involving Las Vegas and Seattle are also heating up, while the league office works on a new local media hub for fans to watch and engage with games. Sponsorship and advertising revenue, meanwhile, keep rising fast.
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Warriors Just Kept Podziemski Without Closing Off A Bigger Move
Brandin Podziemski is staying in Golden State for the long haul after the Warriors signed the young guard to an extension that secures him through at least the 2030-31 season. It is the kind of move that fits the teams bigger picture, locking in a promising piece while signaling that the front office still sees him as part of what comes next.
The details matter here because the Warriors did more than simply reward Podziemski. The structure of the deal was built to preserve some financial room as they keep sorting through future roster plans, leaving the door open for bigger moves rather than shutting it. That balance, between keeping a homegrown guard and maintaining flexibility, may end up being the most important part of the story. [Read more 🡒]
Ben Simmons Gets An Early Shot To Haunt The Warriors
Ben Simmons is lined up to make his Sacramento Kings debut against the Warriors, a tidy little preseason wrinkle for a team that had at least some offseason interest in him. Simmons had been held out of the Kings' first two preseason games, so his first chance to get on the floor in a Sacramento uniform is arriving against a familiar opponent that spent part of the summer weighing whether he fit into its plans.
For Golden State, the matchup adds another layer to a game already being watched closely because Simmons has not appeared in an NBA game since the 2024-25 season. There is intrigue both in how the Kings plan to use him positionally and in how the Warriors will look back on their decision to pass, especially with a player of Simmons' profile now returning to action in a uniform that is not theirs. [Read more 🡒]
Stephen Curry Just Put Pressure On The Warriors Front Office
Stephen Currys latest extension keeps him tied to Golden State, but it also sharpened the focus on what has changed around him. Since the Warriors 2022 championship run, the roster has seen only limited reshaping, and the club heads toward the 2026-27 season with modest outside expectations, shaped as much by health concerns as by the lack of major additions. The clock is already ticking toward an Oct. 21 opener on the road against the Lakers, a setting that tends to expose where a team really stands.
Currys comments about the state of the roster landed with extra weight because he is no longer speaking like a star simply enjoying the ride. By signing on again, he effectively doubled down on Golden States direction, but his remarks also underscored the pressure on the front office to keep pace with the realities of an aging core and a thin margin for error. However the season starts, the Warriors are carrying more than familiar championship expectations now, and Curry made sure that point is hard to miss. [Read more 🡒]