The Brooklyn Nets will pay an NBA-record $90.57 million in luxury-tax penalties to the rest of the NBA teams for their gargantuan 2013-2014 payroll. Team owner Mikhail Prokhorov boasts a net worth exceeding $10 billion.
Based in large part on a trade to acquire Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce from Boston, as well as a six-year, $123 million Joe Johnson contract that runs out in 2016 and a $99 million, five-year contract for Deron Williams that expires in 2017, the payroll didn’t buy too many wins. The team finished at 44-38 and lost in the second round of the playoffs to the Heat. For most of the season, it appeared the bloated payroll wouldn’t even achieve a .500 record. But the Nets finished strong before falling to Miami 4-1 in the playoffs.
The Los Angeles Clippers, Miami Heat, Los Angeles Lakers, and New York Knicks also paid the luxury tax. The Lakers and Knicks finished below .500 and didn’t make the playoffs. The gaudy luxury-tax figure paid by the Nets eclipsed the payrolls of every other NBA team.
The NBA announced a $63 million cap for the upcoming season. That’s up 7.5 percent from last season.
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