Twelve years ago the Golden State Warriors were a team that could barely crack thirty wins and their roster consisted of a few tough nosed veterans and a young rookie by the name of Steph Curry. Their value as a sports team was worth 450 million dollars meaning the now current owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber, bought the team for that amount. Fast forward to 2022 and the Dubs now have four championships in eight years along with the best shooting backcourt the game has ever seen. In that time period the team’s worth has ballooned to 6.02 billion dollars as of this year.

That puts them in 4th place for the most valuable U.S. sports franchise, just beating out the Rams at 5.91 billion dollars. There are only three other teams ahead of the Warriors and they are: the Knicks with 6.12B, the Yankees with 7.01B, and the Cowboys with 7.64B. Here is the full list:

The thought of the Warriors being ahead of the Lakers and Patriots on any list all time is an accomplishment in itself. But how did this really happen? The true answer is the team took a chance on a scrawny six-foot three kid from Davidson and it worked out. He worked on his game and made those around him better until the team was good enough to compete at the highest level. And when they needed him the most, he took his long ranged shot-making to the next level and changed the game for good.

It also helped that he played with guys like Draymond, Klay, KD, Iguodala, and others. But the way the Warrior's played basketball was just so pure, they played the right way. Everyone touched the ball on each possession and at any moment two of the greatest shooters of all time could be open for a three. That was entertaining, people from every state couldn’t help but be amazed by the greatness of Steph Curry. To this day his playstyle and the Warrior’s playstyle are some of the most entertaining brands of basketball that you can watch around the NBA.

This would lead more people to buy the Splash Brothers’ jerseys and go to games to witness this for themselves. And every day the fanbase increases, especially after the Warriors won it all again in 2022, now waiting to see if they can do it again next year. The true test will come after the core trio retires to see if loyal fans will still tune in and support the Dubs.

The likely answer is yes because of the young guys such as Jordan Poole, Jonathan Kuminga, Moses Moody and James Wiseman who all have promising bright futures. In the Warrior’s case you never know because as I said above, a little over a decade ago the team hadn’t even cracked 1 billion dollars. Their value could rise even higher in the years to come, especially if the core group manage to secure a few more rings.

An interesting thought to say the least as fans saw reporter Brian Windhorst claim that the Celtics got “beat by the Warrior’s paycheck” in the Finals. Much to the league's dismay that number will keep going up as long as Joe Lacob and Peter Guber have the money to do so. And as long as the offense is headed by the core trio and head coach Steve Kerr, then the team’s value will keep rising.

(Photo credit: Elsa via NBAE / Getty Images)