Bills run high for the star-studded Golden State Warriors. To keep Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Draymond Green and Andrew Wiggins, the franchise is flooding the market with a lot of money. But unlike the Warriors, the Nets couldn’t keep Kevin Durant despite spending a fortune. And this brings in picture the cap space which has been one of the hot-button issues in the league.
Interestingly, when a team spends over the cap space, the league imposes the luxury tax as a penalty. This was to help restore the balance but often big markets like Lakers benefit from it too. To increase their chances of winning, these gigantic markets don’t mind paying the penalties. The zeal to win supersedes the increase in the payment. But for that, an owner will also need a top-shot market that generates a ton of profit. KD’s former franchise falls in that bracket.
Kevin Durant couldn’t replicate his Warriors’ success
As per Statista Department, the Golden State Warriors topped the list for NBA revenues during the 2021/22 season. During the championship season, the team made $765 million in revenue. But to bring in this revenue, they had to keep their core intact and pay huge contracts.
Therefore, they have by now spent $501,550,883 in luxury tax, $334 million in the last two years. The Warriors had also absorbed Durant’s contract for three seasons and got two titles. But just spending a ton of money and paying a lot in luxury tax doesn’t bring the intended results. The same KD couldn’t even get close to a championship with the Brooklyn Nets.
The Nets have been second in terms of paying the luxury tax. They have accumulated penalties of $310,786,219. These bills have run high because, at one point, the team harbored Kevin Durant, James Harden, and Kyrie Irving.
All of them had contracts running past the $30 million mark for each year, which increased the load. The team had long ago gone way beyond the cap space to get these superstars.
However, things didn’t go as planned.
The “Big Three’ that never was
Despite running such high bills, the trio of Irving, Harden, and Durant barely played together. They were on the floor together for just 16 games! Harden bolted after a one-and-a-half season. Irving did the last four seasons, but he was unavailable for the most part.
Durant tried to carry the load but after a series of coming short, he left the team last season. And without even a Conference Finals appearance to show, the Nets luxury tax bill ran past a whopping $300 million dollars.
The Nets’ case proves that the cost of winning is high. But winning is much more than ostensible spending. Just making big-time moves and going over cap space doesn’t guarantee success. After all, the Warriors are a rarity.
