Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob criticized the NBA’s luxury tax system earlier this month and hoped that whoever needed to hear it, would.
They did, and the longtime owner was subsequently hit with a $500,000 fine, according to a report.
Lacob, who has four NBA Championships under his tenure with the Warriors, was fined half a million dollars for violating the league's policy on publicly discussing collective bargaining talks, ESPN reported
Owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber of the Golden State Warriors raise the Larry O'Brien Championship Trophy after defeating the Boston Celtics 103-90 in Game Six of the 2022 NBA Finals at TD Garden on June 16, 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts. (Elsa/Getty Images)
Lacob’s comments came during a July 15 episode of the Point Forward Podcast where he called the luxury tax "unfair."
"The hardest thing of all is navigating this luxury tax, unfortunately," he said. "I went back to New York this week for labor meetings. I’m on the committee. And you know, obviously, the league wants everyone to have a chance and right now, there’s a certain element out there that believes we ‘checkbook win,’ we won because we have the most salaries on our team."
Golden State Warriors' owner Joe Lacob waves to fans during the Golden State Warriors Victory Parade on June 20, 2022 in San Francisco, California. The Golden State Warriors beat the Boston Celtics 4-2 to win the 2022 NBA Finals. (Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images))
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He continued: "The truth is, we’re only $40 million more than the luxury tax. Now, that’s not small, but it’s not a massive number. We’re $200 million over in total because most of that is this incredible penal luxury tax. And what I consider to be unfair, and I’m going to say it on this podcast and I hope it gets back to whoever is listening, and obviously it’s self-serving for me to say this, but I think it’s a very unfair system because our team is built by … all top eight players are all drafted by this team."
Golden State Warriors' Otto Porter Jr., left, Stephen Curry, #30, and Draymond Green, #23, celebrate in the final seconds against the Memphis Grizzlies during the second half of Game 4 of an NBA basketball Western Conference playoff semifinal in San Francisco, Monday, May 9, 2022. Warriors won 101-98. (AP Photo/Tony Avelar)
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The Warriors had the highest payroll in the league last season and paid a $170 million luxury tax. According to the report, that figure is expected to jump to $181 million next season.
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