This Warriors championship crowns the third elite team of the Kerr era. In 2014-15, the revolution group raided basketball’s old order, changing how the sport would be played forever. As a death star grinding its opponents to dust on a joyless, inevitable march to victory, the two-time championship team of 2016-18 was the team of dominance. We have a team radiating joy at overcoming seemingly insurmountable obstacles during this vintage of Warriors.
The Warriors pay their players $ 176 million in salaries and roughly $170 million in luxury tax – the tax imposed on teams that deliver far beyond the ceiling. But they didn’t win the championship because of the luxury tax. In an article by ESPN’s Zack Lowe, the Warriors’ management built the most lucrative hall in NBA history, creating the option to earn more than any other team without having to rely on the owners’ pockets, even though the Warriors’ money is causing “resentment” in the league. The Warriors’ general manager Bob Myers echoed this sentiment: “The guys we pay them are ours.” They were picked in the draft. We didn’t buy them out of a box.”
After a three-year delay caused by injuries and an apparent free-agent defection — more on him later — the Warriors returned to the throne and carried on as though they never really left. After all, Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson, coach Steve Kerr, and the ownership/management group still claim they are light years ahead of everyone else. They then make the decisions to prove it.
