![]() ![]() And as these teams get into the luxury tax, their options become further constrained by limited exceptions and increasing tax penalties for incremental payroll increases.Īs a result, there’s a game within the game for the contending teams who employ the league’s biggest stars: To surround their stars with the absolute cheapest players - minimum contract guys - and yet find players in that pay echelon who are good enough to contribute important minutes for a contending team.įinding them takes some digging. Those are the tough decisions the salary cap rules force, especially since every team is operating with the same roster size. Only the Knicks - the least top-heavy roster of the bunch - navigated around the tax relatively easily this season.Īnd if you’re going to have Durant at $44 million, or Butler at $38 million, or three players making more than $30 million like the Nuggets, Sixers, Lakers and Warriors each do … well, then you had better offset it with some inexpensive players someplace else. ![]() Five of the eight quarterfinalists will land at least $8 million into the luxury tax this year, while two others ( Philadelphia and Miami) had to do serious gymnastics to limbo just under the tax line. Here’s the thing: for seven of the eight remaining teams, the assemblage of star talent has huge costs. ![]()
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