How Stephen Curry led Golden State Warriors to Billion Dollar Valuation in NBA

Golden State Warriors are currently the third richest franchise in the NBA behind New York Knicks and Los Angeles Lakers. In 2010, Joe Lacob and Peter Guber brought the Warriors franchise for $450 million. An amount that has shot up since then. It was the Stephen Curry era in Oakland and later in Sa Fransisco. 10 years into the era, Forbes currently estimates the value of the Warriors as $4.3 billion, behind the Knicks’ $4.6 billion and the Lakers’ $4.4 billion.

When Lacob and Guber took over the Warriors in 2010, they had made it the playoffs just once in the last 16 years. It was in the 2006/07 season when they had just made it finishing eighth in the Western Conference. They were the 18th most valuable franchise in the league then.

But they had just picked a 21-year old guard from Davidson college. Little did anyone imagine then that the 6 ft 3 in. man would go on to revolutionize the game of basketball with his immaculate three-point shooting.

The rise of Stephen Curry and Golden State Warriors

A few years after Curry’s arrival, the Warriors, with the help of a few more good draft acquisitions, started to dominate the league. They had adopted a style of play around Curry’s shooting that has since become a model for other teams to adopt.

The Warriors acquired Klay Thompson in 2011 and Draymond Green three years later as draft picks. The Warriors’ first title coincided with Curry’s first MVP award in 2015. It also marked the beginning of a run where the Warriors would make it to five consecutive finals, winning three of them. Curry, an all-star in each of the five seasons, rose as one of the best players during that time. In 2016, he became the first player in the NBA history to be unanimously elected as the MVP.

With Curry in the team, the Warriors kept strengthening their side and won two consecutive titles in 2017 and 2018. They lost the 2019 Finals to Toronto Raptors but they had built a dynasty akin to that of Chicago Bulls of the 1990s.

Currently valued at $4.3 billion as the third richest franchise, the Golden State Warriors have Stephen Curry to thank for.