Raptors sit mid-pack in Forbes' annual NBA valuations

Next month's NBA All-Star Weekend, the first to be held outside the U.S., will be pitched as something of a coming-out party for Toronto as a first-rate NBA city, even though they've been part of the league for some two decades now and hey, we've got Drake too, along with a growing rep as a basketball nursery.

Alas, the Raptors' place in the NBA's economic firmament is still a middle-tier work in progress. That's the takeaway, anyway, from a pair of financially oriented rundowns just out – Forbes' always entertaining NBA valuations, and the league's own jersey sales numbers.

Within a league at record-high levels, Forbes pegs the New York Knicks as No. 1 with a $3 billion valuation, up 20 per cent over last year. The Lakers ($2.7 bil.) and the Bulls ($2.3 bil.) are next. Down at No. 14 in the estimates sits the Raptors, just under the billion-dollar mark with a net valuation of $980 million (below the league average of $1.25 billion) off revenues of $163 million and operating income of $23.5 million, those latter two figures each 13th-ranked.

The NBA, meantime, periodically releases its top-selling jerseys, Steph Curry and the Warriors remaining on top in the latest communique, and not a Raptor to be found among the individual and team rankings - though Kristaps Porzingis of those Knicks most definitely can be.

The Raptors don’t make a lot off local TV revenue, so ticket sales – in Canadian dollars – are pivotal to driving those revenues. More than hosting the league’s annual midseason bacchanal, and more than any Drizzy-led branded gear and bandwagoneering, it’ll take nothing less than a playoff run to move the needle. Though don’t feel too bad for the Raptors’ MLSE owners – like about every other NBA team outside of Brooklyn they are profitable, and taken alongside Forbes’ latest NHL valuations they're doing pretty well.

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