If you had $1 billion in 1999, it was theoretically possible for you to purchase the Los Angeles Lakers, the New York Knicks, and the Chicago Bulls.
After being on the verge of bankruptcy in the 1970s, the NBA has come a long way. It is by far the most valuable basketball league in the world, and it couldn't have been possible without a few amazing players.
The likes of Magic Johnson, Larry Bird, and Michael Jordan all contributed to the growth and popularity of the league. Jordan, in particular, arguably had the most impact on the popularity of the NBA.
So much so that back in 1998, the combined net worth of all 29 NBA franchises was around $6 billion, but Michael Jordan had an estimated impact of $10 billion on the U.S. economy.
This just goes to prove how big of a superstar MJ truly was back in the day. Anyway, it was truly the start of the NBA earning a lot of money in the future. Obviously, it meant that the organizations in the league also saw their worth balloon in a matter of years.
Despite all that, back in 1999, the top three NBA most valuable franchises had a combined net worth of less than $1 billion.
$1 Billion Was Enough To Buy The Top 3 NBA Franchises In 1999
As highlighted by the above-attached tweet, the three most valuable teams in the league at the time were: The New York Knicks ($334 million), The Chicago Bulls ($307 million), and the Los Angeles Lakers ($282 million).
Back in 2020, Celebrity Net Worth published a story about the fact how it was possible to purchase the Knicks, the Lakers, and the Bulls in 1999 for just $1 billion dollars.
Via Celebrity Net Worth:
Yep, in 1999, the Lakers, Knicks, and Bulls were all over the NBA map. And if you had $1 billion, you could have owned all three of them.
Of course, there are rules in place to prevent one person from owning multiple teams. Either way, it's an impressive statistic, especially considering what franchises are worth now.
This just goes to prove how far the NBA has come now. Although a single person couldn't purchase multiple NBA franchises, it's still exciting to wonder if someone could have pulled that off in 1999.
But nowadays, it's very difficult to pull this off. Because the top 3 most valuable NBA franchises are The New York Knicks, The Golden State Warriors, and the Los Angeles Lakers. As per Forbes, each of them is worth over $5 billion. And the fourth most valuable team is the Chicago Bulls, with a net worth of $3.64 billion.
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