Andre jokingly apologizes for podcast getting Lacob fined originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
Warriors owner Joe Lacob reportedly was slapped with a $500,000 fine Wednesday for his comments about the NBA’s collective bargaining talks on Andre Iguodala’s “Point Forward” podcast.
During the ESPY awards Wednesday night, Iguodala sincerely apologized. Or something like that.
“I just came up here to promote my podcast ‘Point Forward’ with my man, Evan Turner,” Iguodala joked when taking the microphone after the Warriors were named the “best team” in sports.
“We just got Joe Lacob fined $500,000,” Iguodala said. “I’m sorry, Joe.”
The Warriors have been big contributors to the luxury tax penalties in the NBA the last few years. Golden State had the highest payroll in the league last season but it paid off with a championship.
On the podcast released last week, Lacob described the luxury tax system as “very unfair.”
“I went back to New York this week for labor meetings,” Lacob said. “I’m on the committee. And you know, obviously, the league wants everyone to have a chance, and right now, there’s a certain element out there that believes we “checkbook win;” we won because we have the most salaries on our team.
RELATED: Vanessa Bryant thanks Klay for touching speech about Kobe, Gigi
“The truth is, we’re only $40 million more than the luxury tax. 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.”
Those ended up being expensive words for the Warriors owner. At least the podcast host had a bit of fun with it.