Counting the 6 championship teams in NBA history that don t have to pay taxes, 20 Lakers are on the list, 17 bravest

Since the NBA began to impose luxury taxes in 2002, most champion winners in recent years have also been teams that need to pay luxury taxes, such as the Celtics in 2024, the Nuggets in 2023, etc. In fact, their investment has indeed received obvious returns. These teams not only successfully won the championship, but also played absolute dominance in the process of competing for the championship. For example, the Celtics in 24 years are also very outstanding teams in NBA history. But everything has exceptions. For example, the six teams we will take stock of next. They can still win the championship of the season without paying luxury tax!

1. The Heat (2006)

The NBA salary cap for the 2005-2006 season was 49.5 million, and the luxury tax line was 61.7 million. The total salary of the Heat this year was only 40 million, and half of it was spent on O'Neal. He still received a maximum salary of up to 20 million that year. The Heat won the championship in this situation thanks to the outbreak of Wade, who is still holding a rookie contract. This is only his third season in the NBA, but he has played many superstars without playing in their entire career.

Wade averaged 28.4 points, 5.9 rebounds, 5.7 assists, 2.2 steals, 1.1 blocks, and his shooting percentage was as high as 49.7%. His performance in the finals that year was even more exaggerated. Facing the Mavericks, he averaged 34.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game. With his outbreak after the series, the Heat were able to successfully reverse and win the championship. In the end, Wade, who had an annual salary of only 3.03 million, was naturally elected as FMVP.

2. Spurs (2014)

Before 2014, the Spurs had won four championships under the leadership of Duncan. As the latter grew older, his condition still declined to a certain extent. So in order to better help the team compete for the championship, he made sacrifices in salary many times. In addition, the same is true for core members such as Ginobili and Parker. It is precisely because the team regards championship competition as the first goal. So in the 2013-2014 season, in the NBA with a luxury tax line of 71.748 million, the Spurs were not only able to successfully avoid taxes with a total salary of 63.38 million, but they are also still popular for the championship.

It is worth mentioning that the Spurs' scouting department has also made great contributions. In 2011, the team took a fancy to rookie Leonard, so even though the Pacers took the lead in selecting him, the Spurs still brought him to San Antonio through a trade. In the 2013-2014 season, Leonard, who was still a third-year rookie, once again ushered in an explosion. In the finals, he averaged 17.8 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1.6 steals, 1.2 blocks, and his shooting percentage was as high as 61.2%. In addition, he also had to defend James on the court. Therefore, after the Spurs won the championship 4-1, he also successfully won his first FMVP in his career.

3. Warriors (2015)

Similar to the Spurs, the Warriors also relied on the rise of the draft. They selected Curry in 2009, Thompson in 2011, and Green in 2012. As these three people continue to improve after entering the league, the Warriors also have their own Big Three. In the 2014-2015 season, Thompson and Green were still getting rookie contracts. For Curry, because his early performance was not that outstanding and had hidden dangers of injury, he only signed a four-year, 44 million child labor contract with the team in 2014.

In this case, the annual salary of the Warriors' Big Three is only 14.63 million. It is worth mentioning that since Green was just the second round pick at the beginning, his annual salary this year is as low as 920,000 US dollars. In addition, there is also a core rotation, Barnes is also a rookie contract. In this case, the Warriors naturally have a lot of salary to strengthen other positions. For example, Iguodala, Bogut and other players all have good strength. In the end, the Warriors also successfully won the championship this season.

4. Warriors (2017)

After winning the championship in 2015, the Warriors successively renewed their contracts with Thompson and Green, but at the same time, the league's salary cap and luxury tax line have been greatly improved. In the 2016-2017 season, the NBA's salary cap was 94.14 million and the luxury tax line was 113 million. Curry's annual salary this season is still only 12.11 million, so in the 2016 offseason, the Warriors got the opportunity to directly sign Durant naked, and they did not hesitate to give the latter a maximum salary.

Without the original three giants not lost, the Warriors signed another MVP at the peak, so their real strength has directly reached the unique position of the league. In the end, the Warriors won the championship without any suspense this season. During this period, they even beat the entire league with a record of 16 wins and 1 loss. Overall, this Warriors can be said to be one of the best teams in history.

5. Lakers (2020)

Since Kobe's Achilles tendon ruptured that year, the Lakers have completely fallen into a dark period. It was not until James arrived in Los Angeles in 2018 that the Lakers finally ushered in a glimmer of hope for a recovery. Immediately after James's coordinated recruitment in 2019, the Lakers traded 26-year-old Anthony Davis, but in this deal they also sent away many rotations, and the contracts of Stephenson and other players expired. Therefore, in the Lakers' lineup at that time, there was only one Kuzma who was still holding a rookie contract in the Lakers lineup at that time..

In addition, since the deal for Davis was finalized relatively late, the Lakers did not have much room for operation in the free market, so even if they wanted to spend money, they had no place to spend it. In the end, they signed Danny Green, and then renewed their contracts with Rondo, Pope and others. After the start of the season, the Lakers also signed Howard and Morris with basic salary. While basically relying on picking up bargains, the Lakers' total salary is still significantly different from the luxury tax line. At the beginning, the outside world was obviously not optimistic that they would win the championship immediately, but under the leadership of James and Davis, the Lakers had a very good chemical reaction, and they also seized this opportunity to successfully lead the team back to the peak and won the 17th championship in team history.

6. Thunder (2025)

Finally, this year's champion Thunder. It is obvious that they rely on rookie dividends to compete for the championship while avoiding luxury taxes. Before this offseason, Alexander, the only Thunder team who had a maximum salary, had only an annual salary of less than 40 million yuan, which was not ranked in the top 30 in the league last season. Jewish and Chett were both rookie contracts. It is because of this that the Thunder would be willing and have room to give Hartten an annual salary of 30 million yuan.

Although the Thunder renewed the Big Three at a high price during this offseason, the contracts of these three will only start in the 2026-2027 season, so they still have hopes that they will not have to pay taxes next season while maintaining competitiveness. However, it is worth mentioning that in the past seven years, no team in the NBA has been able to defend its title. Next, it depends on whether the Thunder can break this situation.