National Basketball Association (NBA) - Statistics & Facts

The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America comprising 30 franchises, of which 29 are located in the United States and one in Canada (Toronto Raptors). The league was founded in 1946, then named the Basketball Association of America (BAA). In 1949, the BAA merged with the rival National Basketball League (NBL) to form the National Basketball Association.

NBA team revenues into the millions

Today, the NBA as a whole generates around six to eight billion U.S. dollars in revenue per season, a figure that has experienced a dip in the last two years as a result of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In the 2020/21 season, the average revenue per franchise was around 213.5 million U.S. dollars. In that year, the Los Angeles Lakers and the New York Knicks topped the league in terms of annual revenue. At the other end of the sale, the Indian Pacers generated the lowest revenue in the league - 179 million U.S. dollars.

The league's most valuable franchises

The New York Knicks are the most valuable franchise in the league with a total value of around 5.8 billion U.S. dollars. The least valuable franchise is the Memphis Grizzlies with a value of 1.5 billion U.S. dollars. On average, NBA franchises have an estimated value of around 2.48 billion U.S. dollars. In comparison, the average franchise value in the NFL was just over three billion U.S. dollars, in the MLB 1.85 billion U.S. dollars, and in the NHL 653 million U.S. dollars. During the NBA regular season, a league wide total of 1,230 games are played, with each team playing 82 games. The average regular season home attendance in the league was 17,184 during the 2021/22 season.

The WNBA

The WNBA is the premier league for women's basketball in the United States, comprising 12 teams split into Eastern and Western conferences. The honor of highest paid player in the league in 2022 was shared among three players, two of whom played for Seattle Storm. Another of the players near the top of this list was Skylar Diggins-Smith, who has twice won the Nancy Lieberman Award for the best point guard in the country, and took home 227,900 U.S. dollars for her season's work in 2022.
This text provides general information. Statista assumes no liability for the information given being complete or correct. Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date data than referenced in the text.
Published by Statista Research Department, Sep 7, 2023

Key insights

NBA total league revenue
10.02bn USD
Average operating income per franchise in the NBA
90.8m USD
Average franchise value of NBA teams
2.86bn USD
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