For months, the Nets have said — both privately and publicly — they don’t want to pay the luxury tax next season. But, if their summer goes as planned, they may not have a choice.
“The goal is to try to be under the tax,” Nets general manager Billy King said Wedneday. “That’s just the goal. How realistic is it? It may not be. But that’s the goal.”
The reason it’s unrealistic is the Nets are already committed to roughly $61 million in payroll for 2015-16 – about $20 million beneath the projected luxury tax threshold — and that number doesn’t include contracts for Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young, the team’s top priorities for this summer, nor unrestricted free agent Alan Anderson and restricted free agent Mirza Teletovic.