If you're a fan of a specific NBA team, chances are you can name the team's owner or owners off the top of your head without a hitch. But have you ever stopped to think about how they made enough money to purchase your favorite franchise?
Plenty of owners choose to聽buy or start an NBA team as a business investment; they get to do the exciting stuff, such as providing operating capital, servicing debts, and paying for everything from the arena and staff paychecks to player paychecks and fines. What's more, the role of an owner varies depending on the team. Some owners are more hands-on, making publicized long-lasting decisions such as hiring and firing head coaches, general managers, and even players. A handful of owners, , choose to聽be more involved in their team than most (in Cuban's case, the Dallas Mavericks), speaking in-depth about the players' skill sets, sitting courtside, and rarely missing a game. Owners purchase teams for the love of the game, for solely an investment, or as a combination.
Recently, certain teams have begun moving away from the word "owner" altogether to reduce unwarranted power dynamics. Draymond Green, power forward for the Golden State Warriors, has suggested alternatives to using the term "owner" , and the Philadelphia 76ers already use the term "managing partner" instead. Following the 2019 season, NBA commissioner Adam Silver divulged in an interview that the league had "owner" years ago, instead rather calling the team owners "governors of the team" or "alternate governors."
To find out how exactly聽every NBA owner made their fortune, 爆料TV scoured the web for biographies and interviews straight from the source. In addition to learning how each had made enough money to become an NBA team owner in the first place, we also looked at facts such as how long they've owned the team, and which owner has majority state if they share ownership. Read on to discover how the owner of your favorite NBA team made their wealth鈥攁nd, if you've ever dreamt of owning a franchise, start taking some notes.
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1 / 30- Owners: Tony Ressler, Grant Hill, Steven Price, Rick Schnall, Sara Blakely, Jesse Itzler
The leader of the ownership group who bought the Hawks in 2015 is Tony Ressler. Ressler started on Wall Street before co-founding the Apollo Management in 1990 and then private equity firm Ares Management in 1997. Sara Blakely, self-made billionaire and , also owns a stake in the team along with her husband Jesse Itzler.
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2 / 30- Owner: Wyc Grousbeck
Princeton grad Wyc Grousbeck put in seven years at Highland Capital Partners before becoming the of the Celtics in 2002. In 2010 Wyc became Chairman of the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary, a Harvard Medical School teaching hospital. Three years later, he co-founded Causeway Media Partners, a private equity firm that works with sports and technology investments worth $340 million.
YE AUNG THU // Getty Images
3 / 30- Owner: Joseph Tsai
Nets Owner Joseph Tsai is vice-chairman and , the Chinese e-commerce conglomerate, giving him a net worth of more than $10 billion. In September 2019, the billionaire鈥攚ho already owned 49% of the team and arena鈥攂ought the remaining shares for $3.5 billion. The sale set records for the largest ever for a U.S. sports franchise.
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4 / 30- Owner: Michael Jordan
Although Jordan is considered the greatest basketball player of all time, most of his current money came from endorsements and other businesses鈥攎ost prominently Jordan Brand鈥攔ather than his player contracts. In 2019 he was聽, with the income he鈥檚 accumulated off the court worth about $1.7 billion since entering the league in 1984鈥攁lmost 20 times his player salaries from 15 seasons in the NBA. The basketball legend has kept majority control of the Hornets since 2010, despite of the team in September 2019.
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5 / 30- Owner: Jerry Reinsdorf
You'd be hard-pressed to find a sports fanatic in Chicago who hasn't heard of Jerry Reinsdorf; the owns both the Chicago Bulls and the Chicago White Sox. He made most of his early money selling his interest in the Balcor Company, which he founded in 1973, and putting the money into real estate. He bought the Bulls for $9.2 million in 1985; the team is now worth $2.5 billion.
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6 / 30- Owner: Dan Gilbert
Dan Gilbert, who bought the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2005 for $375 million, is mortgage lending giant Quicken Loans. The Detroit native has put an enormous amount of time and effort into redeveloping projects for the city and real estate ventures, as well.
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7 / 30- Owner: Mark Cuban
With an estimated net worth of $4.1 billion, including almost $1 billion in Amazon stock, Mark Cuban has been the owner of the Dallas Mavericks since 2000. He began building his fortune in the 1990s through a , primarily with the sale of his streaming site Broadcast.com, worth $5.7 billion in stocks. More recently, Cuban has made a series of investments on the ABC show 鈥淪hark Tank鈥� and sold majority shares in his two TV networks.
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8 / 30- Owner: Ann Walton Kroenke
Most of Kroenke鈥檚 fortune comes from her (which in August 2018 was worth $386 billion), founded by her uncle, Sam Walton. Her husband, Stan Kroenke, bought the Denver Nuggets in 2000 to his wife in 2015.
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9 / 30- Owner: Tom Gores
Owner of the Detroit Pistons, Tom Gores, in 2011 and moved the corporate headquarters and practice facility to downtown Detroit in 2017 with the new Henry Ford Detroit Pistons Performance Center. Before owning the Pistons, Gores was the Chairman and CEO of Platinum Equity, a global investment firm.
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10 / 30- Owners: Joe Lacob, Peter Guber
The two owners bought the Warriors for , which turned out to be a pretty聽good investment considering the team was worth $3.5 billion by 2019. So how did they make their money initially? Lacob is in Silicon Valley, and Guber is the of the multimedia enterprise Mandalay Entertainment Group
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11 / 30- Owner: Tilman Fertitta
Fertitta, who as the CEO of the Landry's chain of restaurants and the Golden Nugget casino and hotels, bought the Rockets in 2017. At the time, the $2.2 billion price tag for the team was an NBA record.
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12 / 30- Owner: Herbert Simon
Apart from being the chairman and co-founder of , a retail real estate management and development company, Simon is also the a book review publication. Simon has since 1983 and plans on leaving the team to his son someday.
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13 / 30- Owner: Steve Ballmer
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer started at the ground floor as an assistant at Microsoft before eventually becoming the in 2000. In 2014, Ballmer for $2 billion, which was one of the highest prices paid for a professional team聽at the time.
Kevork Djansezian // Getty Images
14 / 30- Owner: Buss family
The Lakers have been part of the Buss family since 1979, making it the . When father Jerry Buss died in 2013, the owner left his six children in charge of a family trust which included the team. Back in 1959, Buss bought a 14-unit rental apartment in Los Angeles and turned it into a $350 million real estate business.
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15 / 30- Owner: Robert J. Pera
Pera bought the Grizzlies in 2012 at just 34 years old, making him one of the 聽at the time. The young billionaire went from working at Apple to starting his own company, Ubiquiti Networks, a communications technology company.
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16 / 30- Owner: Micky Arison
Arison took over ownership of the Miami Heat from his father, co-founder of Carnival Cruise Lines, Ted Arison, in 1995. Micky was also聽 and CEO of his father鈥檚 travel company in 1990, which is how he earned most of his fortune.
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17 / 30- Owners: Marc Lasry, Wesley Edens
Billionaires Lasry and Edens, who both earned their fortunes as in New York, bought the Bucks in 2014. The franchise, which the pair purchased for $550 million originally, was worth $1.35 billion by 2019.
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18 / 30- Owner: Glen Taylor
Timberwolves owner Glen Taylor worked his way up from a college job at a printing business called Carlson Wedding service, eventually saving up enough money to buy the company after his boss retired in 1975. Since then, he鈥檚 made a fortune , including the NBA team in 1995.
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19 / 30- Owner: Gayle Benson
Gayle Benson is the wife of former Pelicans and Saints owner Tom Benson, who made his money through car dealerships and a financial company. Following the death of her husband鈥攚ho bought the team in 2012鈥擥ayle became the new owner in 2018, .
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20 / 30- Owner: James Dolan
James Dolan has since 1997. Currently the CEO of the Madison Square Garden Company, Dolan made his early money by inheriting control of his father's company, Cablevision, $17 billion by the time he sold it in 2015.
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21 / 30- Owner: Clay Bennett
Bennett is the chairman of a called Dorchester Capital Corporation. The Thunder, who were at the time known as the Seattle SuperSonics before moving to Oklahoma City, Starbucks founder Howard Schultz in 2006 by a group led by Bennett.
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22 / 30- Owner: Dan DeVos
For the Orlando Magic, ownership of the franchise has been a family affair since 1991, when Rich DeVos first bought the team for $85 million. When Rich died in 2018, his son Dan along with his three siblings. Rich helped found Amway, a multi-level marketing company known for selling health and beauty products.
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23 / 30- Owners: Joshua Harris, Adam Aron, David Blitzer, Martin J. Geller, David B. Heller, Travis Hennings, James Lassiter, Marc Leder, Michael Rubin, Will Smith, Jada Pinkett Smith, Art Wrubel, Erick Thohir, Handy Soetedjo
Although the group who controls the 76ers includes the likes of Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, billionaire Joshua Harris is . Harris purchased the team in 2011 and earned his money as a聽co-founder of private equity firm Apollo Global Management.
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24 / 30- Owner: Robert Sarver
Arizona native Sarver is the Chairman and CEO of Western Alliance Bancorporation and the co-founder of Southwest Value Partners. He purchased the Suns in 2004 after a lifelong passion for the team and the sport.
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25 / 30- Owner: Jody Allen
Jody Allen is the of Vulcan Inc. and the sister of Paul Allen, who bought the team in 1988 at 35 years old. Paul was a co-founder of Microsoft and continued to be a philanthropist until his death in 2018, when his trust and companies鈥攊ncluding the Trail Blazers鈥�.
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26 / 30- Owners: Vivek Ranadiv茅, Paul E. Jacobs, Gary E. Jacobs, Hal Jacobs, Jeffrey A. Jacobs
Ranadiv茅 founded Teknekron Software Systems in 1986, a company credited with revolutionizing the American stock exchange by automating Wall Street. Later in 1997, he founded TIBCO Software Incorporated. He has owned the Kings since 2013.
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27 / 30- Owner: Peter Holt
The great-grandson of the man who invented the first Caterpillar Tractor, Holt is now the Caterpillar dealership in the country. Holt and his partnership group bought the Spurs in 1993, and he later became the majority owner just three years later.
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28 / 30- Owners: Larry Tanenbaum, Rogers Communications, BCE
The Raptors NBA team Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, which is in turn聽run by Rogers Communications and BCE, Inc., a Canadian media company. MLSE in 1998, and Larry Tanenbaum is the current chairman of the company.
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29 / 30- Owner: Gail Miller
Miller is a businesswoman and the as of 2019. Since the death of her husband in 2009, she inherited the Utah Jazz along with many businesses, movie theaters, car dealerships, and charities.
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30 / 30- Owner: Ted Leonsis
Making most of his fortune working as an executive for AOL in a 14-year tenure, Leonis eventually became the founder and . His company, which also owns several other sports teams in Washington, bought a minority share in the Wizards in 1999 and the in 2010.
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