With how Golden State Warriors’ owner Joe Lacob runs his mouth, it was going to be sooner or later that he was going to say something that would pinch his wallet a bit.
The NBA office came down with a hefty punishment, fining Joe Lacob $500,000 for publicly talking about collective bargaining talks that have already begun between the NBA and Players Association.
The incident happened when he went on the Point Forward Podcast with hosts Andre Iguodala and Evan Turner to talk about the Warriors’ championship run and the payroll of the team, which was the highest last season.
“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.”
Since the owners and the players’ association have begun negotiating, both sides are prohibited from speaking publicly about it.
The NBA forbids owners and team officials from “unauthorized communications regarding collective bargaining.”
Obviously, like any sort of negotiation in any capacity, it is important to not share what is being discussed in good faith with both sides, so it really should not be too surprising that Lacob was punished.
On the podcast, Lacob goes on to talk about how the luxury tax rule is not fair to the Warriors.
“I think it’s a very unfair system because our team is built,” Lacob continues. “Top eight players are drafted by this team. We have guys that were undrafted and we found and developed them in Santa Cruz.”
Joe Lacob Was Previously Fined for Talking About Other Players
Back almost about a year ago, when Ben Simmons and Philadelphia had a falling out, there were tons of rumors circulating about where the Sixers would trade Simmons.
On September 21, Lacob went on the record with the San Francisco Chronicle and commented on the team’s interest in the now Nets point guard.
“In some ways, it doesn’t really fit what we’re doing,” Lacob says. “He makes a lot of money. And, can he finish games? I don’t know. He’s very talented. The problem is: We have Draymond. Draymond and him are very similar in the sense that neither one really shoots and they do a lot of the playmaking. That’s one issue. The salary structure is another.”
The day after, the NBA fined Lacob $50,000 for talking about other players publicly. NBA personnel are forbidden from mentioning players on other teams publicly as that is considered the anti-tampering rule.
Magic Johnson was fined $50,000 for publicly talking about Giannis Antetokounmpo, back in 2018 when he was the Lakers’ president of basketball operations
The Luxury Tax for the Warriors Next Season
The Warriors are on track to be the highest-paid team with over $200 million according to Spotrac for next season.
Golden State is currently second behind the Clippers with their luxury tax sum of $184 million. While it is well worth it, when the team can win the title, anything less is always a bit harder for owners to swallow when they come up short.
The half-million dollar fine for Lacob probably won’t bother him much. He might have already had a feeling he would get fined when he publicly spoke about it.
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NBA Punishes Warriors Owner Joe Lacob for ‘Unfair’ Comments