The NBA asked Warriors owner Joe Lacob to pay according to media reports. Lacob had publicly criticized the NBA’s luxury tax system and thus violated the collective agreement.
Wie Adrian Wojnarowski (ESPN) reports, owners and executives are prohibited from speaking about the stipulations of the collective agreement without consultation. Lacob was a guest on Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner’s “Point Forward” podcast on Friday and called the principle of the luxury tax “very unfair”. Lacob now has to shell out $500,000 for this statement.
“The truth is we’re only $40 million over the luxury tax limit,” Lacob said. “It’s not a little, but it’s not an enormous sum either. In fact, we have to pay 200 million for this luxury tax fine.”
According to Lacob, this system is unfair because the Warriors drafted the top eight players on the team. It is “difficult” under the current conditions of the CBA to keep the entire team.
Lacob is not quite right, since Andrew Wiggins, who will collect 33.6 million next season, was not drafted by the dubs, but came via trade from Minnesota. However, from the current 12 players in the squad, the Warriors chose 9 themselves. This does not apply only to Wiggins, Donte DiVincenzo and Mac McClung.
Like Jordan Poole, Wiggins could extend his contract at Golden State in the offseason, but this should make head coach Steve Kerr’s team even more expensive. The reigning champion could then, according to Bobby Marks (ESPN) in the 2023/24 season will pay well over 200 million in luxury taxes on top of their salaries.
These players in the roster were drafted by Golden State themselves
| player | Draft | Pick |
| Stephen Curry | 2009 | 7 |
| Klay Thompson | 2011 | 11 |
| Draymond Green | 2012 | 35 |
| Kevon Looney | 2015 | 30 |
| Jordan Poole | 2019 | 28 |
| James Wiseman | 2020 | 2 |
| Jonathan Kuminga | 2021 | 7 |
| Moses Moody | 2021 | 14 |
| Patrick Baldwin Jr. | 2022 | 28 |
