The Golden State Warriors aren’t comparative with other luxury tax teams

The Golden State Warriors‘ payroll has been a massive talking point in recent times, particularly after the franchise won their fourth championship in eight seasons.

It began with ESPN’s Brian Windhorst labeling the Warriors game five win in the Finals as a ‘checkbook win’, alluding to the team’s exorbitant payroll and subsequent luxury tax implications.

The Golden State Warriors may have the NBA’s highest payroll, but their roster situation isn’t comparable to other luxury tax teams.

Warriors owner Joe Lacob was recently fined $500,000 for labeling the luxury tax as ‘unfair’, going into detail on the Point-Forward podcast with Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner.

"“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 topped the league’s payroll in 2021-22, and although they currently sit second for next season, they’ll likely again be first depending on further additions to their 15-man roster.

The Warriors are joined in the top three projected payrolls by the Los Angeles Clippers and Brooklyn Nets, two teams with vastly different roster constructions to that of Golden State.

Of the 11 players the Warriors currently have contracted for next season, nine of them were drafted by the franchise. Three of them, Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, account for nearly $115 million in player salaries.

Brooklyn, currently in a state of flux after Kevin Durant’s trade request, have four players on the roster who began with the franchise. Those four players are set to make less than $15 million combined next season.

The Clippers, expected to be a championship contending team next season with the return of Kawhi Leonard, are even worse in this respect. They too have just four players on their roster who started with the franchise, all of which are the lowest earning players and equate to less than $10 million combined.

If respective owners, fans or whoever wish to criticize the current NBA collective bargaining agreement, and in particular the salary cap/luxury tax rules, then their argument needs to start with the Nets or Clippers, not the Warriors.

Sure, Golden State is taking advantage of the rules to some extent, but as Lacob also points out, their homemade roster build should be the desire of every NBA franchise.