NBA tax may soon be a luxury Lakers can't afford

This season, payroll and luxury taxes will cost the Lakers $128 million. But when the league's stiffer taxes take effect in the 2013-14 season, keeping the Lakers' core together could cost nearly $200 million.

Let me tell you how it will be,

There's one for you, 19 for me,

'Cause I'm the Taxman

The Beatles

It won't be long before $128 million doesn't buy the Lakerswhat it used to.

Like, by next season.

This season, that amount will cover the 2012-13 payroll and associated luxury taxes for a roster dripping with superstarsDwight Howard, Kobe Bryant, Steve Nash and Pau Gasol.

A year from now, it could pay for only a portion of that same roster and maybe a pair of Bryant's high-end sneakers. Keeping the core of the Lakers together could cost nearly $200 million.

Thanks, new collective bargaining agreement.

NBA owners who like to pair eight-figure player salaries with their caviar are bracing for the party pooper known as more punitive luxury taxes, set to arrive in the 2013-14 season. Designed to expand the league's middle class and reduce the number of bloated contracts, the tax may force big spenders such as the Lakers to reconsider just how much they are willing to lavish on star players.

Then again, Jerry Buss has never been known to skimp on headliners, much less parade confetti, in his 33 years as Lakers owner.

"My feeling is that we'll continue to pursue the top players in the league," Lakers General Manager Mitch Kupchak said. "There will always be an emphasis on having the franchise be able to survive and prosper."

Even so, the cost of success is about to go up … and up … and up.

This is the last season the Lakers will pay a dollar-for-dollar penalty for exceeding the luxury-tax threshold, meaning that their league-high payroll of $99.2 million will cost them an additional $28.9 million in taxes, because that's how far they are above the $70.3-million tax level. The tax will raise the tab for their player costs to $128 million.

Starting next season, the tax burden gets significantly heavier. NBA teams must pay a $1.50-to-$1 ratio for the first $4.99 million they are over the luxury-tax threshold, a $1.75-to-$1 ratio for being $5 million to $9.99 million above the threshold, a $2.50 ratio for $10 million to $14.99 million over, and a $3.25 ratio for $15 million to $19.99 million beyond the threshold.

Teams that are $20 million or more over the tax level accrue additional penalties, increasing by 50 cents per dollar for every $5 million.

Those extra pennies can add up to millions, particularly for teams with multiple all-stars.

"All of these penalties are designed to try to change behavior and the thinking of the people that make the decisions and to try to make the cost of making the decisions outside the parameters more painful," said Peter Guber, co-owner of the Golden State Warriors. "How it will play out, you never know until you see it whether it changes the culture as well as the metrics."

The Lakers already have $79.6 million committed to eight players for the 2013-14 season. Assuming they re-sign Howard next summer to a maximum contract that calls for him to make $20.5 million in the first year, that bumps the Lakers payroll over $100 million.

If their final payroll was $105 million, that would put them $32 million over the league's projected tax threshold of $73 million, triggering a tax of $94.5 million and putting the team on the hook for a staggering total of $199.5 million — a 55.9% increase over the total for this season with essentially the same group of core players.

Source: Los Angeles Times