Los Angeles Lakers, New York Knicks Worst Teams This Season But Has Highest Franchise Value

It doesn’t matter if the Los Angeles Lakers and New York Knicks have two of the worst records in the current National Basketball Association (NBA) season, the two big market, popular franchises in the league has still the highest franchise value as assessed by Forbes in its latest report on NBA franchises values.

The Hollywood franchise has a current value of $2.6 billion while the Knicks is at $2.5 billion. According to the report, NBA teams has now average franchise values of $1.1 billion almost doubling the average from 2014. The rise in value is credited to the new television deal by the league with broadcast giant ESPN/ABC and TNT. The Forbes story will appear in the Feb. 9, 2015 issue of the publication and also available for reading online.

The Lakers led by Kobe Bryant and the Knicks featuring Carmelo Anthony have a combined win-loss card of 19-67 so far this season. Overall, the Knicks rank dead last while the Lakers are among the fourth-worst team in the entire league. Barring any major trades or improvement, it appears both teams are on their way to the lottery and will battle for the most ping pong balls for the 2015 NBA Draft.

The Lakers has the biggest TV deal in the entire basketball landscape closing a $4 billion deal with Time Warner (TNT) in 2012. The L.A. franchise also had the highest revenue with $293 million in 2014. For the Knicks, they had the highest TV audience on the average last season, despite not being one of the title contenders in the league.

The Chicago Bulls ($2 billion), Boston Celtics ($1.7 billion)and Los Angeles Clippers ($1.6 billion) complete out the top five as NBA franchises with the most value. The bottom five meanwhile are the Charlotte Hornets ($750 million), Philadelphia 76ers ($700 million), New Orleans Pelicans ($650million), Minnesota Timberwolves ($625 million) and Milwaukee Bucks ($600 million).

To contact author of this article, email j.quizon@IBTimes.com.au.