WASHINGTON, July 11 (RIA Novosti) – Russian billionaire and owner of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Brooklyn Nets, Mikhail Prokhorov, is facing an astronomical $70 million luxury tax bill for surpassing the league’s team salary cap limit, USA Today reported.
The NBA has set a team salary cap limit of about $58.6 million for the 2013-14 season and Prokhorov’s Nets have a projected payroll of about $98 million, meaning the team would have to pay nearly $70 million in luxury taxes according to the league’s new tax system USA Today reported on Wednesday. That comes to an almost $170 million team salary.
The Los Angeles Lakers had the NBA’s highest luxury tax bill for the 2012-13 season, about $29 million.
Prokhorov, who went on a $330 million spending spree last summer in present and future salaries to upgrade his team’s roster, is eager to win a championship.
"We wouldn't have just spent this way if we didn't think it would help us advance our common goal of winning a championship. That's really what we're trying to do,” USA Today reported the Nets’ general manager Billy King as saying.
