Joe Lacob, the Warriors’ CEO, has made it very known over the seasons that he will spend as much money as necessary to assemble a winning team.
Joe Lacob has an intense desire to triumph, yet he is aware of the price victory demands.
Due to the enormous contracts signed by Klay Thompson, Steph Curry, and Draymond Green, the Warriors’ annual budget is sure to soar.
Since adding Andrew Wiggins, the four players have a combined salary of almost $139 million, putting them just above the $112.4 million salary ceiling and into the tax territory. After finalizing the roster, the Warriors’ final pay commitment was close to $176 million.
Joe Lacob Believes That The Hardest Thing Was Navigation
For their fourth NBA championship in as many years, the Warriors paid north of $346 million, including a luxury tax burden of over $170 million.
While they did bring in certain free agents on senior guaranteed contracts and Wiggins, the Warriors relied heavily on guys they recruited and groomed. And that is why Joe Lacob is not too fond of the league’s present luxury tax setup. On the most recent episode of their show, Point Forward hosts Joe Lacob and Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner discussed the difficulty of avoiding the luxury tax. This week I returned to New York to attend union meetings.
I have a seat at the table. Also, the league wants all teams to remain competitive, and some people may think we triumphed simply because we pay our players the most. To tell the truth, we are barely $40 million above the luxury tax. Okay, so it is not a tiny number, but it is also not a huge one.
This extraordinary penal luxury tax accounts for the vast majority of our $200 million overrun. And here is what I think is unfair, and I am going to express it on this show in the hopes that it eventually returns to whoever is listening… also, it is in my best desire to say it, but I think the draught system is rigged against us because we have drafted the top eight players.
Even though the Warriors did not draught Wiggins, Iguodala reminded Lacob that the team acquired the former No. 1 pick from Minnesota Wolves with their Bird Rights intact, allowing them to pay him more than the league minimum.
