文/水清清
After the Warriors won their fourth championship in eight years, ESPN reporter Zach Lowe reported that some teams in the league complained that the Warriors gained a competitive advantage through high wage expenditures. So is this true? If we look at the salary and luxury tax structures of the league's competitors in the finals in the past 10 years, you will understand that this is an indisputable fact. The Warriors won the championship in the most luxurious way in the past 10 years.
Curry led the team to win the fourth championship
The Warriors’ salary this season is US$176.4 million, only second highest behind the Nets. Some fans directly refuted this. The Warriors’ salary is lower than Nets , but you have to Looking at the follow-up, the Warriors will pay 170.3 million in luxury tax for their high salary, with a total expenditure of 346.7 million. The Nets’ luxury tax is 97.7316 million US dollars. The Warriors will pay nearly double the luxury tax; compared with the Celtics in the finals (total salary of 135.5 million), the Warriors’ total expenditure exceeds 200 million US dollars, and the “luxury” is unparalleled in history.
In the 2011-12 season, Heat won the championship. The team's total salary was 75 million US dollars and the luxury tax was 13 million US dollars. The opponent Thunder had a salary of 60 million US dollars without paying taxes. The subsequent story is well known to fans. Detonator is not willing to pay more for Harden Paying a salary of 5 million is one of the reasons why the latter was traded to the Rockets. This team building model is actually the norm in NBA. When a team has multiple players performing superstar performances, due to salary limitations, there are always some players. Will switch to other teams to maintain the overall competitive level of the league.
In the 2012-13 season, the Heat had a total salary of 80 million, a luxury tax of 24 million, and ranked second in the league in expenditure; the finals opponent Spurs had a salary of 69 million and did not need to pay tax; in the 2013-14 season, the Spurs' total salary was 63 million, ranking 19th in the league and still did not need to pay tax; The Heat's total salary for the season was 800 million, and they had to pay 14 million in luxury tax, ranking third in the league. In the 2014-15 season, the Warriors won the championship with a total expenditure of 73 million. The Cavaliers' total salary was 85 million, and the luxury tax was only 7 million.
Cavalry vs. Warriors
In the 2015-16 season, the Cavaliers revenge the Warriors with a total salary of 100 million and a luxury tax of 53 million; the Warriors' salary of 94 million requires a luxury tax of 20 million; the Warriors' total salary in the 2016-17 season is 100 million and no tax is required; Cavaliers With a salary of 130 million, the luxury tax is only 25 million; the Warriors' salary of 137 million in the 2017-18 season requires a luxury tax of 34 million; the Cavaliers' salary of 138 million requires a luxury tax of 51 million; the Raptors in the 2018-19 season have to pay 4.138 billion 25 million in luxury tax, the Warriors' salary is 146 million, and the luxury tax has risen to 51 million.
In the 2019-20 season, the Lakers .119 billion do not need to pay taxes to win the championship; the Heat's 130 million total salary only pays 3 million in taxes; in the 2021-22 season the Bucks .137 billion salary only pays 1 million in taxes to win the championship, Suns 1 .3 billion without paying taxes. As an extra mention, last season the Warriors had a salary of 170 million and a luxury tax of 110 million. Their total expenditure of 288 million was already the highest in history, and this season it has risen sharply to 346.7 million.
displays in detail the salary situation of championship teams and finals opponents in the past 10 years. The question I want to explain:
1. In the past 9 years, the largest spending gap between finals opponents was only nearly 40 million (the Cavaliers and the 2015-16 season). Warriors), and the spending gap between the opponents in this year's finals is as high as 200 million, which is seriously unbalanced. Can Zhu Qiang not have doubts? Spending so much money, just like the Thunder 10 years ago, two-thirds of the teams can't afford it!
2. The Warriors’ extravagant spending has led to a solid lineup: Curry, Clay , Green , Wiggins , Poole , Porter and Looney . The above seven people are from inside to outside. Outside, from offense to defense, there are almost no flaws. Boss Lacob said bluntly, "We have the four giants!"
Wiggins, the fourth giant of the Warriors to win the championship.
In other words, the Warriors have used luxurious spending to create a luxurious team. The lineup is the foundation for their success. Some fans will retort with Miles 's remarks, "We selected these players, we trained them, and the boss is willing to spend the money." But there is an indisputable fact: Wiggins was exchanged for Russell, and Russell was exchanged for Durant. Durant was recruited in the summer of 2016. This is consistent with Miles's "We are not paying high prices." Sign some free agents" is inconsistent.
And the more terrible consequences are far beyond this season. Next season, when Wiseman can come back healthy, and Kuminga and Moody have also entered their second years and become more mature, which other teams in the league can compete with the Warriors? ? As a result, some teams in the league have voiced doubts, believing that the Warriors gain a competitive advantage through high wages.
Of course, it is understandable that the Warriors' solid capital allowed them to build such a luxurious lineup, but it is an indisputable fact that they have indeed broken the rules of competition inherited from history - at least three or two teams are on the same starting line for winning the championship!
I know that articles like this will make the Warriors extremely dissatisfied, but if you think about it carefully, if they continue to be "invincible in the East" for the next few seasons, and most teams in the league directly disarm the Warriors, you really Are you still willing to watch the Warriors game?
