Pity poor Paul Allen. He only came in at No. 20 on the Forbes list of the 400 Richest Americans.
But at least he’ll have something to hold over the heads of the other owners when they convene next month for the Board of Governors meeting in New York (then again, Allen– worth 15 billion– may not attend. He usually sends someone in his place).
The only owner who can flex muscles with him is Mikhail Prokhorov of the Brooklyn Nets, with $13.2 billion (ranked 58th worldwide by Forbes).
Anyhow, Allen was ranked No. 1 among American NBA owners, with Orlando’s Rich DeVos checking in at No. 67, one spot ahead of Heat owner Micky Arison, who has been tweeting pictures from the Mediterranean all summer as he travels aboard one of his cruise ships.
Stan Kroenke of the Denver Nuggets is in a tie for No. 92 at $$4B, the Dolan family (Knicks) are at No. 132 – $3B), Tom Gores ($2.5B) of the Detroit Pistons is on the list at No. 179, Mark Cuban ($2.3B) is at #206, Herb Simon of the Indiana Pacers is at No. 218 (($2.2B), Dan Gilbert of the Cleveland Cavaliers and Donald Sterling of the Los Angeles Clippers are in a tie for 250th place ($1.9B), Glen Taylor of the Minnesota Timberwolves ($1.7B) is 285th, Tom Benson of the New Orleans Hornets is at No. 360 ($1.2B)
One prospective NBA owner who can’t seem to find the right deal is Oracle chairman Larry Ellison, who is ranked No. 3 (worth $41 billion) behind only Warren Buffett ($44 billion) and Bill Gates ($68 billion). Ellison has tried to buy the Golden State Warriors, Memphis Grizzlies and New Orleans Hornets, to no avail.
If Ellison ever does succeed in purchasing an NBA team, he would likely want to move it to San Jose, Calif.
Other notable names on the list are Phil Knight of Nike (23rd; $13.1B) and Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook (36th, $9.4B),
Richest NBA Owners: Paul Allen leads list in Forbes 400