5 Worst Owners in the NBA

Your favorite NBA team is about much more than the players on the court. It takes coaches, assistants, marketing, public relations, executives and more to make the machine work. When the machine stops working, the attention naturally focuses on the ownership at the top. These are the types of owners you don't want running your team.

5. Vivek Ranadive, Sacramento Kings
We'll give him credit for one thing - he hasn't moved the Kings out of Sacramento. Though given that the Kings haven't made the playoffs in over a decade, the jury's still out on whether that's actually a credit. An IT billionaire, Ranadive's expertise hasn't exactly translated to basketball, with the infamous DeMarcus Cousins trade being only the tip of the iceberg of questionable decisions made under his watch.

4. Glen Taylor, Minnesota Timberwolves
Both Taylor and his team are a picture of mediocrity in the NBA - the T-Wolves have made it past the first playoff round only once in their history - and as long as he is holding the reins, it looks like it will stay that way. His most infamous act came in 2000, when he attempted to circumvent the NBA salary cap by signing Joe Smith to a below-market deal in exchange for a massive payday later. Taylor was found out and banned for nearly a year, the longest punishment for an owner at the time.

3. Robert Sarver, Phoenix Suns
The Phoenix Suns have not made the playoffs since the 2009-10 season, and are well on their way to missing the postseason for the 10th consecutive season. That alone should give you an idea how well Sarver's tenure has gone. As if that weren't bad enough, Sarver has made implicit threats to move the team to either Seattle or Las Vegas unless the city of Phoenix moves forward with renovating the Suns' current arena, at a cost of $230 million.

2. The Buss family, Los Angeles Lakers
Let the last five years of Lakers basketball be a lesson that any team - any team, even the most storied of their sport - can be brought down to earth when the wrong people are in charge. Family patriarch Jerry's death in 2013 led to squabbling among the six children - particularly Jeanie and Jim - among who controlled what. It became clear that new president Jim did not have the basketball savvy to follow in his father's footsteps. Thankfully for Lakers fans, things seem to be turning around this season.

1. James Dolan, New York Knicks
There is no doubt who the top entry on this list should belong to. Dolan's tenure as owner of the New York Knicks has been characterized by catastrophic head coaching hires, baffling management decision, childish quarrels with everyone who looks at him funny, and more headlines made off the court than on it. The nadir arguably came in 2007, when Dolan's company was sued by former employee Anucha Browne Sanders after the company fired her for complaining about unwanted sexual advances from then-Knicks head coach Isiah Thomas.