NBA Franchise Fever: Half the League Has Changed Owners in Twelve Years

The news is no longer that an NBA franchise is being sold—it's the speed at which they're selling. Since Steve Ballmer bought the Los Angeles Clippers in 2014, the league has recorded 17 change-of-control transactions affecting 14 of its 30 teams. Nearly half the NBA has changed hands in twelve years, and to grasp the acceleration: between Jerry Buss's purchase of the Lakers in 1979 and Ballmer's deal, there were 26 sales spread across three and a half decades. Of the 43 total transactions in the complete period, nearly 40% are concentrated in the most recent phase.

And the dizzying pace is accelerating. Between 2025 and 2026, six sales have closed, with two franchises changing owners in consecutive seasons: the Lakers, from the Buss family to Mark Walter for $10 billion and from Walter to a group led by Josh Kushner and Bob Iger for $12.5 billion just a year later, and the Timberwolves, from Marc Lore and Alex Rodríguez's deal with Glen Taylor (valued at $1.5 billion) to Marc Stad's entry at a valuation of $4.5 billion this same year. At that pace, add the champion Boston Celtics, sold for $6.1 billion, and Portland, for $4.25 billion.

The Lakers, the Perfect Barometer

No transaction better captures the new market than the double Los Angeles sale, the story we've been following chapter by chapter. The franchise that the Buss family bought for $67.5 million in 1979 and transformed into a global brand with eleven championships broke the record for any U.S. sports property in 2025... and that record lasted a year: the Kushner-Iger transaction, still pending approval from the Board of Governors in mid-September, raised the bar to $12.5 billion and proved that in this market even the extraordinary becomes obsolete quickly.

The Boston case adds another dimension: it wasn't a struggling franchise that sold, but the 2024 champion. Bill Chisholm took control for $6.1 billion of a team that Boston Basketball Partners had bought for $360 million in 2002, one of the greatest appreciations in league history. And the starting point of this entire era, Ballmer's 2014 purchase, followed the same script: his $2 billion during Donald Sterling's downfall nearly quadrupled the previous record and was received as madness; today, with the Intuit Dome standing and the franchise multiplied in value, that anomaly reads as the first signal of the true entry price into the business.

What Has Changed: Who Buys and With What Money

Billion-dollar sales existed before—the Knicks' $1.1 billion in 1997, Denver's $450 million in 2000—but they were isolated milestones. The current difference lies in frequency and scale: Brooklyn went from $200 million in 2010 to $3.5 billion in 2019; Phoenix, from $401 million in 2004 to $4 billion in 2023.

And above all, the buyer profile has changed. The classic owner was an extremely wealthy entrepreneur who acquired the team as a prestige asset and connection to his city; the current one comes from the financial world: investment groups, tech magnates, and consortiums capable of assembling billions. Chisholm arrived in Boston backed by an investor structure; Tom Dundon adds the Blazers to a sports portfolio that already includes the Carolina Hurricanes of the NHL; and Iger, raised as a Knicks fan, buys the Lakers alongside a Kushner based in New York.

The league itself opened the door in 2021 by allowing private equity funds to enter minority stakes when individuals capable of signing these checks were becoming scarce. The appeal for investors is textbook: only thirty teams exist, audiovisual revenues guarantee a floor, new television and streaming contracts raise the ceiling, and the international market keeps growing. Scarcity plus growth: the formula capital never ignores.

For veteran owners, the consequence is an unrepeatable exit window. Marc Lasry bought the Bucks with Wesley Edens for $550 million in 2014 and exited at a $3.5 billion valuation; Michael Jordan paid $275 million for the majority of Charlotte in 2010 and sold it valued at $3 billion in 2023.

The Uncomfortable Question... That Europe Should Ask Itself Now

The underlying question is no longer how much a franchise is worth, but what it means that owners are increasingly investors. Money finances arenas, rosters, and structures; but a fund that views the team as part of a portfolio can prioritize returns over historical relationships with basketball and its culture.

And the question crosses the Atlantic with a date: the EuroLeague just announced its franchise model with binding offers of nearly 700 million euros for the new slots. Europe is importing exactly this system in its initial phase, when the fees seem expensive and within a decade may read like Ballmer's $2 billion: the bargain no one saw coming.

All Sales of the New Era, With Their Appreciation