These are the teams paying the highest luxury tax in the 2025 NBA conference semifinals
Of the eight teams involved in the 2025 conference semifinals, five are paying luxury tax.
When it comes to managing salaries in sports, the USA is almost unique in the world in implementing a salary cap with caps being utilised in football (NFL), ice hockey (NFL) basketball (NBA) and even soccer (MLS).
Some sports implement what’s known as a ‘hard cap’, with the NFL being a case in point where where no team can exceed the threshold set by the league whilst the NBA uses a soft cap.
This allows the threshold in a variety of exceptional cases to be exceeded. Re-signing current players, a provision known as the Larry Bird rule, are exempt from the cap. As a result, most teams are more or less permanently over the salary cap.
Calculating the cap
In the NBA, each team’s salary cap is calculated based on a percentage of the league’s Basketball Related Income (BRI) from the previous season which is the total revenue the NBA and its owners generate. This includes various streams such as: ticket sales, television and broadcasting rights, merchandise sales, concessions along with advertising and sponsorship deals.
Teams that go over the pre-fixed cap, have then to pay what’s known as a luxury tax which is a financial penalty.
The primary goal of this tax is is to discourage wealthier teams in larger markets from simply outspending smaller market teams to acquire all the best talent, thus aiming for a more level playing field.
Paying the tax
In almost the past two decades, 14 of the 18 NBA champions have been luxury tax payers and in this season’s conference semifinals, only Cleveland, Oklahoma and Indiana are under the pre-established salary cap limit and this exempt from paying the tax.
14 of the past 18 NBA champions paid the luxury tax
— Lev Akabas (@LevAkabas) May 6, 2025
Paying it this year: BOS, NYK, GS, MIN, DEN
Not paying it this year: OKC, CLE, IND pic.twitter.com/saesIyQEuU
Boston, New York, Denver, Golden State and Minnesota are all paying the luxury tax.
Reigning NBA champions Boston Celtics have the highest tax bill of $54,196,169 with Golden State Warriors paying the lowest tax of these five teams with their bill exceeding $15,000,000.
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