SAN ANTONIO, TX – MAY 22: Majority owner of the Golden State Warriors Joseph S. Lacob (R) and fiancée, Nicole Curran, attend Game Four of the 2017 NBA Western Conference Finals between the Golden State Warriors and the San Antonio Spurs at AT&T Center on May 22, 2017 in San Antonio, Texas. (Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images)
The Golden State Warriors ownership group has been hit with a $500,000 fine.
According to ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski, Warriors owner Joe Lacob has been fined half a million dollars for his recent comments on a podcast.
Lacob reportedly spoke about how unfair the league’s luxury tax rules are.
“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,'” Woj reports.
This is a pretty significant fine for the Warriors owner.
“Remember- The New York Liberty received a league-record $500,000 for taking charter flights and the WNBA threatened to terminate the franchise,” one fan tweeted.
“Joe Lacob losing more money so he can’t re-sign Poole,” another fan joked.
“Oh no, did your championship team cost too much? What a shame,” another fan added.
“The hardest thing of all is navigating this luxury tax, unfortunately. 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,” he said.
“The truth is, we’re only $40 million more than the luxury tax. Now, that’s not small but it’s not a massive number. We’re $200 million over in total because most of that is this incredible penal luxury tax. And what I consider to be unfair and 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.”