Golden State Warriors governor Joe Lacob was fined for the comments he made regarding the luxury tax and the collective bargaining agreement. Lacob described the current CBA as unfair.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported, citing sources, that NBA has fined Lacob $500,000 for his comments on the Point Forward Podcast. Lacob discussed the luxury tax, saying the system is “very unfair.”
“The hardest thing of all is navigating this luxury tax, unfortunately,” Lacob said to Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner on the last episode of their “Point Forward” podcast (h/t NBC Sports Bay Area).
“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.”
The NBA is forbidding owners and team officials from “unauthorized communications regarding collective bargaining.”
ESPN listed Golden State’s luxury tax bill for this past season at $170 million, up from $69 million in 2020-21. Projections show the team paying $181 million next season.
“… 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,” the Warriors’ owner noted.
The Warriors will still have Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Wiggins and Draymond Green under contract next season, with the quartet set to make over $148 million combined during the 2022-23 campaign.
ESPN Sources: The NBA has fined Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob $500,000 for his recent comments on the Point Forward Podcast discussing the league’s collective bargaining talks, which included Lacob describing the league’s luxury tax system as “very unfair.”
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 21, 2022
