A year ago, Forbes ranked the Nets as the sixth most valuable NBA franchise, worth an estimated $2.23 billion. Now, after Joe Tsai actually shelled out that much —and more for the team and Barclays Center— and after they signed two of the best players in the NBA, the Nets are ranked seventh, behind the Clippers at $2.5 billion.
How does that work? Forbes explained in a footnote to their annual ranking of team valuations...
Our appraisals are what we think the team would sell for. So while Tsai paid $3.3 billion for the Nets, we think the team is worth more like $2.