toronto raptors

The Toronto Raptors now rank as one of the top 10 most valuable teams in the NBA

Even without beloved Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard, the Toronto Raptors are doing extremely well for themselves.

After famously clinching an NBA championship win last season, the team is on a record-breaking streak of 15 consecutive wins, the most in Raptors and Canadian professional sports history. And now, the Raps have been named one of the most valuable in the league.

Forbes has released its detailed valuations of the NBA's 30 teams for 2020, and the Toronto Raptors have not only landed in the top 10, but they've also had the biggest value gains of any team year-over-year.

The team has jumped a whopping 25 per cent in value since last year according to the report — the most of any team, likely thanks in part to last year's championship title.

Forbes lists the team's value this year at around $2.1 billion, putting it in tenth place behind the New York Knicks, L.A. Lakers, Golden State Warriors, Chicago Bulls, Boston Celtics, L.A. Clippers, Brooklyn Nets, Houston Rockets and Dallas Mavericks.

Because of the high valuation of the top teams — the Knicks were hard to beat at $4.6 billion — the average value between the teams was around $2.1 billion. It is the first time in the league's history that the average team has been worth anywhere near this amount.

Overall, the findings say that NBA values are way up — compared to both itself last year and other major professional sports leagues like the NFL, NHL and MLB this year — despite factors like injured star players, falling TV ratings and more. 

Business is apparently booming for the league and revenues have risen more than 10 per cent since last year, nearing $9 billion thanks to things like good management, a young audience, international appeal and recent TV contracts and collective-bargaining agreements, says Forbes.

For the Raps, whose next game is this evening against the Nets, a diehard base of the league's "best fans," backing from Drake and fashionably ginormous scarves may also be key factors.

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Toronto Raptors


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