When discussing the NBA’s best owners, Mikhail Prokhorov
and James Dolan are not names that typically come to mind. Prokhorov is
responsible for moving the Nets to Brooklyn, but some immediate success
has vanished as the team has grown consistently worse on the court –
not to mention that last season the Nets managed to be the only
franchise to lose money on a operating basis. The New York Knicks are
actually owned by Charles Dolan and a host of family members, including
son James, who is the man often vilified by New York Knicks fans. Some
have gone so far as to practically beg the Dolans to sell the team.
Yet, over the last five years, no billionaire owners have seen their investments grow as quickly as those two. That’s saying something, considering that more than 20 NBA team owners now have a ten-figure fortune.
It’s of course little coincidence that both teams play in New York City. In fact, the top six owners on our list own teams that hail from the five largest metro areas in the country - New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and Dallas. Massive market size means that those owners have been best able to capitalize on the recent boom in NBA team values, even if their teams’ on-court performances haven’t kept pace.
But market size isn’t everything – Philadelphia is the nation’s sixth-biggest market, yet the 76ers have posted the league’s worst annualized return over the last five years. Meanwhile our list of the most successful billionaire owners also includes teams from markets like Indianapolis, Cleveland and Portland.
To figure out which billionaire owners have been the league’s most prosperous, we simply used our historical team valuations to calculate five-year annualized returns for every billionaire owner (including family stakes) that has had an ownership stake since at least 2011. Our numbers do not account for dividends.
Yet, over the last five years, no billionaire owners have seen their investments grow as quickly as those two. That’s saying something, considering that more than 20 NBA team owners now have a ten-figure fortune.
It’s of course little coincidence that both teams play in New York City. In fact, the top six owners on our list own teams that hail from the five largest metro areas in the country - New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Houston and Dallas. Massive market size means that those owners have been best able to capitalize on the recent boom in NBA team values, even if their teams’ on-court performances haven’t kept pace.
But market size isn’t everything – Philadelphia is the nation’s sixth-biggest market, yet the 76ers have posted the league’s worst annualized return over the last five years. Meanwhile our list of the most successful billionaire owners also includes teams from markets like Indianapolis, Cleveland and Portland.
To figure out which billionaire owners have been the league’s most prosperous, we simply used our historical team valuations to calculate five-year annualized returns for every billionaire owner (including family stakes) that has had an ownership stake since at least 2011. Our numbers do not account for dividends.
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