The NBA fined Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob for his recent comments regarding the luxury tax and his team’s spending, a person with direct knowledge of the situation told USA TODAY Sports.
The person requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak until the league publicly announced the fine.
ESPN reported the fine is $500,000.
On a recent podcast with Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner that aired this week, Lacob said the league’s luxury tax is unfair and called it an “incredible penal luxury tax.”
“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,” Lacob said on the Point Forward podcast.
Teams are fined for spending over the luxury tax threshold that was $136.6 million. It is not a flat tax as teams pay more the higher they go over the tax threshold in player salaries.
The Warriors’ luxury tax bill for the 2021-22 season is expected to be $141 million in addition to their $184 million payroll. Last season, the Warriors paid $170 million in luxury taxes in addition to a $175 million payroll.
The league prohibits owners and team executives from unauthorized communications regarding collective bargaining.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Warriors owner Joe Lacob fined $500K for calling luxury tax ‘unfair’
