While teams get their books in order for the 2012/13 season, navigating the salary cap and the luxury tax threshold, Mark Deeks of ShamSports.com takes a look back at the league's 2011/12 finances. Deeks shares the official list of teams that paid the luxury tax in 2011/12, along with the amount each club paid. The list is as follows:
- Los Angeles Lakers: $12,557,264
- Boston Celtics: $7,365,867
- Miami Heat: $6,129,340
- Dallas Mavericks: $2,738,843
- San Antonio Spurs: $2,514,275
- Atlanta Hawks: $666,199
The more punitive luxury-tax penalties introduced in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement have yet to kick in, so the tax penalties for the aforementioned six teams come by way of the old system -- teams are penalized $1 for every dollar they spend over the tax line. In 2011/12, that tax line was at $70,307,000, so the Hawks, for instance, spent $70,973,199 on their roster.
Tax penalties for 2012/13 will remain the same as in 2011/12, but next offseason the CBA's increased restrictions take effect in earnest. In the summer of 2013, teams over the luxury tax line are ineligible to acquire players in sign-and-trade deals, while clubs that exceed the tax threshold for the 2013/14 season will pay an incremental rate based on team salary.
