The owner of the reigning NBA champions, the Golden State Warriors’ Joe Lacob, was fined $500,000 by the NBA officials on Wednesday, one of the highest fines in league history. Joe received the penalty for remarks he made in which he harshly criticized the luxury tax system for going over the salary cap in roster confirmation.

Lacob owned a majority stake in the Warriors since 2010 and has experienced a lot with the franchise. He has supported the team through their difficult times, and naturally, he seems to be enjoying their triumph during their heyday. The 66-year-old millionaire acknowledges that despite all the highs and lows, managing the NBA’s luxury tax restrictions has proven to be the “hardest thing of all.”

ESPN story on the NBA fining Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob $500K for publicly criticizing league's luxury tax system and discussing collective bargaining talks:

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 21, 2022

With the addition of Andrew Wiggins, the four players’ combined salaries for the previous season totaled over $139 million, above both the cap of $112.4 million and the luxury tax level of $136.6 million. Golden State’s eventual total compensation after filling out the roster was close to $176 million.

All of that expenditure resulted in a luxury tax charge of over $170 million, which the Warriors paid for the squad that won its fourth NBA championship in eight seasons for over $346 million. Lacob doesn’t like the current luxury tax system the league has put in place for that reason.

“The truth is, we’re only $40 million more than the luxury tax,” Lacob said. “Now, that’s not small but it’s not a massive number. We’re $200 million over in total because most of that is this incredible penal luxury tax. And what I consider to be unfair and I’m going to say it on this podcast and I hope it gets back to whoever is listening”

“And obviously it’s self-serving for me to say this, but I think it’s a very unfair system because our team is built by — all top eight players are all drafted by this team.”