One of the goals of the 2011 labor negotiations was a system where every NBA team will turn a profit if they keep their payrolls in check. Players getting a smaller piece of the pie and increased revenue sharing moving from high-revenue teams to those on the lower end have made that a reality.
Only three teams lost money last season — the Cavaliers, Los Angeles Clippers and Oklahoma City Thunder — and all three were in the red as a result of excessive payrolls that triggered nearly $90 million in luxury tax payments cumulatively.
The Cavs led by LeBron James nabbed their first NBA Championship in franchise history, but the team lost $40 million in operating income and even more on a net income basis. Blame a $54 million luxury tax that pushed total player costs to $185 million. The $40 million loss was the fifth biggest in the history of the NBA.
NBA owners will reap the rewards of their new TV deal for the next nine seasons, but they are also pushing into new revenue-generating opportunities. On Monday, the Utah Jazz became the fifth NBA team to sign a jersey sponsorship deal as part of an NBA pilot program starting next season (the Cavs and Goodyear also reportedly have reached a deal, but no announcement has been made). Each of the sponsor deals is worth at least $4 million a year with marquee teams like the Golden State Warriors looking for deals in the $15 million range.
Part of the reason behind the allure of NBA teams for investors is the league’s opportunities overseas. Along with soccer, basketball has the most global potential. There were 1.2 billion unique viewers of NBA games worldwide last season.
The Houston Rockets regularly showcase Chinese lettering on their uniforms to promote their brand in China. The team became wildly popular in Asia after future Hall of Famer Yao Ming joined the club in 2002. 
The league is focused on monetizing those international viewers through rights deals. International media deals currently represented only 8% of the league’s $5.9 billion in revenue last season. Overseas viewers have an insatiable appetite for NBA content. The league launched a cloud-based B2B portal this season to help deliver video, news and social-media content from the league. The portal is available to all 30 NBA teams and nearly 200 partners who reach fans in 2015 countries and territories.
The NBA recently partnered with Take-Two Interactive Software to create an esports league around the video game maker’s popular NBA 2K Series. The league will launch in 2018 and eventually have 30 NBA 2K teams owned by the real-life franchises.
Teams of five players will compete during a season that follows the NBA season.
The league will sell tickets and merchandise with plans for sponsorship deals and licensing agreements for fans to watch games remotely. The NBA 2K series has sold 68 million units since it was launched in 1999 with nearly seven million sold for the 2017 version. In addition to the new NBA esports league, at least six owners have purchased stakes in existing pro-gaming organizations.
Article Appeared @https://www.forbes.com/sites/kurtbadenhausen/2017/02/15/the-knicks-and-lakers-head-the-nbas-most-valuable-teams-2017/#163348027966