Report: NBA Teams Upset Warriors May Benefit from Luxury-Tax Change in New CBA

The Golden State Warriors are reportedly in line to benefit from changes to how the luxury tax is calculated based on the projected basketball-related income (BRI) for the 2020-21 season, and rival NBA teams are said to be "upset" about the development.

ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst reported details of the situation:

The Warriors are one of four teams currently above the luxury-tax threshold, along with the Boston Celtics, Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers, but more squads are likely to join the group since the salary cap for the 2020-21 will remain stagnant amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Bontemps and Adrian Wojnarowski provided further information about how Golden State could benefit from the changes:

"For example, if [BRI] drops from a projected $8.45 billion to $5.9 billion—a 30 percent decline—the Golden State Warriors' projected luxury tax bill would be reduced from $60 million to $42 million.

"Another way the luxury tax relief could benefit Golden State is with regard to potentially using its $17.2 million trade exception generated by trading away Andre Iguodala last summer. If the Warriors were to acquire a player for that full amount in a trade, their tax bill would increase to $149 million. A reduction to league-wide revenue, however, could slice up to $45 million off that total number."

The alteration is part of an amended CBA agreed to by the NBA and the players association on Monday night for a Dec. 22 start to next season, which will be 72 games instead of 82, per ESPN.

Starting late in 2020 rather than early in 2021 will allow the league to salvage its Christmas Day games, which are a major revenue driver. Meyers Leonard, who served as the Miami Heat's player representative last season, said there are still issues like health and safety measures to finalize.

"Without knowing all the ins and outs, Dec. 22nd, from a money standpoint, you play more games, you play your Christmas games, it probably makes sense," Leonard told Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press. "But there's a lot of logistical things that I know cannot be easy. And the discussions that are being had are very dynamic and very difficult conversations."

It also leaves an extremely condensed offseason, with the Los Angeles Lakers having defeated the Miami Heat to win the NBA title Oct. 11. Those teams will only have about 10 weeks between games compared to the usual timetable of around four months.

Meanwhile, the Warriors could be one of the most active teams as they look to vault back into championship contention as Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson prepare to return from injuries.

If they add another superstar a la Kevin Durant in 2016 with help from the CBA changes, it'll likely cause a major uproar around the league.