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Mark Deeks of the hilarious and insightful ShamSports.com recently took a look at the history of the NBA luxury tax. It's a good survey chock full of numerous gems, but one in particular stuck out to me.Since the inception of the luxury tax in 2002-03, only two teams have crossed the threshold every season it has been collected: the Dallas Mavericks and the New York Knicks. That the Knicks have had the highest payroll for basically the entire decade is hilarious itself, but just for kicks, let's compare the two teams' records in those luxury tax seasons.
Teams pay a luxury tax if their player payroll exceeds a certain level. This money is divvied up among non-tax teams. It is basically a disincentive to teams looking to "buy a championship," a purpose which reads like satire given one of the teams we're talking about here.
The tax was not collected in 2001-02 or 2004-05 because player salaries did not exceed a certain share of league revenue. Dallas has averaged a 57-25 record over the seven seasons in which tax was collected. The Knicks' average record during that span? 31-51.
I might as well keep piling on while I'm at it, Spike Lee already hates me anyway:
* Dallas's worst record in a tax-paying year: 50-32. New York's best record in a tax-paying year: 39-43.
* The Knicks have not only paid the tax every season, but they have paid the most tax every season. Not just total. In every individual season, the Knicks have topped the list in luxury tax owed.
* Over the last four years, only seven of the 26 tax-paying teams have finished the season with a losing record. Four of those were the Knicks. (They are joined by the 2005-06 Magic, 2006-07 Wolves and 2007-08 Heat. The Knicks were the only one of last season's seven tax-paying teams to finish with a losing record. They finished with 32 wins and 50 losses.)
* Over the last four seasons, the Knicks have paid a total of $125.7 million in luxury tax. They have registered 111 wins over that time. That means that for every win, the Knicks pay $1.13 million in luxury tax. This is in addition to the roughly $380 million in player payroll over that span.
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