Vivek Ranadivé and his ownership group purchased the Sacramento Kings in May of 2013 for a valuation of $535 million. At the time it was an NBA record for a franchise value. Today the Kings are worth an estimated $1.375 billion according to Forbes’ annual ranking. Crazier still, that $1.375 billion places the Kings 13th on the list of franchise values, with no franchise valued at less than $1 billion.

In the 2017 list the Kings ranked 15th, at a valuation of $1.075 billion. If you have an opportunity to increase your value by $300 million in 12 months, I recommend it.

The value increase for the Kings since their purchase is thanks to two main factors. First, the values of NBA franchises have steadily increased with each new sale over the past 5 years. The league is financially strong, and wealthy individuals want to own teams.

But the other factor is the improvements to the franchise by Ranadivé and his ownership group. For all our complaints on the basketball side, Kings ownership has been everything we could hope for on the business side of the house. They delivered an incredible new arena in downtown Sacramento, and haven’t been shy about spending to attempt to improve the team. Those investments can’t be overlooked when considering the value of the team. In part due to the new arena, Sacramento had more revenue than 17 other NBA teams.

Now, if we can just get free agents to care more about the Forbes ranking, we’ll be in great shape.