It's obviously in Joe Lacob's best financial interest to balk at expectations the Golden State Warriors payroll could soon explode into the $400-$500 million territory. Details of reporting about NBA owners' yearning for a hard cap in the next CBA, though, reveal that Lacob's summer talk about already being “in trouble with the rest of the league” for his team's record spending wasn't entirely self-serving.
The league and its owners are proposing an “upper spending limit” to the salary cap in ongoing CBA negotiations, according to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, a desire stemming largely from exorbitant roster costs of the Warriors, LA Clippers and Brooklyn Nets last season.
The NBA is pursuing the implementation of an upper Spending Limit in its negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement with the National Basketball Players Association, a systemic change that has been met with significant union resistance, sources told ESPN.
In the wake of large-market contenders Golden State, Brooklyn and the LA Clippers running up massive payrolls and luxury tax penalties, the NBA is proposing a system that would replace the luxury tax with a hard limit that teams could not exceed to pay salaries, sources said.
League insider Marc Stein provided further insight on the owners' justification for seeking a hard cap, homing in on Golden State's record $354 million total payroll last season.
This much is clear: What’s happening in Golden State is at the crux of the USL discourse. One league source pointed to all the recent hoopla about a potential Warriors salary-plus-luxury tax bill that approaches (or maybe even exceeds) the $500 million mark and said that “payroll disparity” concerns, as they are increasing referred to around the league, have undeniably pumped some doubt into labor talks that were once regarded as “a layup.”
A players union source told Stein that owners' refusal to move off demands for a hard cap in CBA negotiations would inevitably prompt a lockout.
“There will be a lockout before there’s a hard cap.”
It's not just Golden State's spending in 2021-22 that's driving hard cap discussions.
The Warriors' potential payroll for next season apparently has other owners complaining, too, despite recent acknowledgements from both Lacob and Bob Myers the team would likely be forced to shed salary—Draymond Green's $27.4 million contract, potentially—before next season to avoid that $400 million red line of roster cost and repeater luxury tax penalties.
Lacob alluded to his fellow owners' frustrations with the Warriors' spending during an early July appearance on The TK Show.
“I’m already in trouble with the rest of the league. We are in trouble for being where we are,” he told Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. “In fact, in Vegas there’ll be a board of governors meeting Tuesday. They’re not happy. It’s not just us. Other teams are going into the luxury tax now as well.
“You know, we kind of blew a hole in the system, and it’s not a good look from the league’s perspective,” he continued. “They don’t want to see it happen. And there are limits. I’m not going to say what they are, but there are limits to what you can do.”
Unyielding union resistance to the prospect of a hard cap probably makes the owners' objective a non-starter.
There are other means of leveling the financial playing field for small-market franchises without further restricting player movement. It's also not like owners hesitant to dip deep into the luxury tax are hurting for it financially. Forbes just valued the league's average organization at a whopping $2.85 billion, 15% richer than a year ago, and non-taxpayers are due annual payouts from the league's priciest teams via revenue sharing.
A true hard cap risks the possibility of largely home-grown teams being unable to retain players acquired through the draft the deeper they get into their careers, too.
Teams wary of that prospect have reportedly broached it with other owners while voicing their disapproval for a hard cap. Cash-rich franchises like Golden State, LA and Brooklyn, basically, aren't the only ones against making such a drastic change to systemic workings of the league.
As this story continues unfolding, though, rest assured Lacob and the Warriors will remain at the heart of it regardless.
Follow Us
Subscribe