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The Milwaukee Bucks are struggling this season on the floor and also carrying a huge financial burden with their payroll and luxury tax penalties. 

"What no one talks about is how much money they're losing and have lost over the last few seasons, it's tens of millions per year," one league executive told ESPN. "And if they're in the repeater [tax] next year, the penalties are even more severe."

The Bucks are in the repeater tax and above the second apron with a current $75 million projected luxury tax bill. They also have limited roster building mechanisms available to them as part of the new CBA. The only future first round pick the Bucks can trade is a 2031 selection. 

Marc Lasry sold his ownership stake in the Bucks in 2023 to Jimmy Haslam for a $3.5 billion valuation.

Via Brian Windhorst, Tim Bontemps/ESPN

That's a lot of beer

Steve Ballmer's overpriced purchase of the Clippers artifically inflated the value of these NBA Teams by BILLIONS.. You think teams like the Pistons, Bucks, Magic are worth billions haha

Mark Cuban, Michael Jordan and even the recent champions Celtics owner have put up their teams for sale recently. What adam silver wont tell you is that only a handful of teams are making above average profits.. Most of these nba teams are not just not making any profits but are barely breaking even at best. Which is adam silver wanted more teams to have a chance at the playoffs.. with the adventation of the pay-in tournament

Now ask yourself why would mark cuban who has the best guard prospect to enter the league since steph/harden wanna put the mavs up for sale. That question also applies to the celtics.

Its because these owners are noticing fans losing intrest in nba games as a whole. Wait till the stephs, lebrons, harden, durant, kawhis retire from the nba and you are gonna see just how much damage adam silver has done to the nba and how much these david stern "draftees" were holding it above water. Caitlin Clark right now is arguably the biggest name in basketball, and the mlb is starting to trend really heavily on social media platforms now

Bucks struggling so ESPN sees another opportunity to kick while someone is down. I'm sure all ESPN's hosts attempts to bash the organization in an attempt to get Giannis to leave will work this time! It's only been about a decade since you started trying lol...

It's time for Giannis to hit the trail. Brooklyn or Houston.

Bucks are in the same situation as the Celtics - they do not own their own arena. Because of this the Celtics more or less lose money every year. They don't even get to fully profit from the ticket sales and none of the concessions are theirs. While it's not tied to the NBA, if team owners also own the arena, they can host concerts and other events to generate even more income - this would help offset any luxury taxes etc.

I suspect all future owners of NBA franchises will take this into consideration. There would of course be the occasional mega billionaire such as Ballmer to come along and not care too much about the margins - but even he went out and built an arena.

That's terrible cap management. On top of that they are paying 3 head coaches.

NBA4Lyfe wrote:Steve Ballmer's overpriced purchase of the Clippers artifically inflated the value of these NBA Teams by BILLIONS.. You think teams like the Pistons, Bucks, Magic are worth billions haha

Mark Cuban, Michael Jordan and even the recent champions Celtics owner have put up their teams for sale recently. What adam silver wont tell you is that only a handful of teams are making above average profits.. Most of these nba teams are not just not making any profits but are barely breaking even at best. Which is adam silver wanted more teams to have a chance at the playoffs.. with the adventation of the pay-in tournament

Now ask yourself why would mark cuban who has the best guard prospect to enter the league since steph/harden wanna put the mavs up for sale. That question also applies to the celtics.

Its because these owners are noticing fans losing intrest in nba games as a whole. Wait till the stephs, lebrons, harden, durant, kawhis retire from the nba and you are gonna see just how much damage adam silver has done to the nba and how much these david stern "draftees" were holding it above water. Caitlin Clark right now is arguably the biggest name in basketball, and the mlb is starting to trend really heavily on social media platforms now

Why is it "artificial inflation?" Steve Ballmer's money is very real. LA is a huge market.

Joe Lacob bought the Warriors for $450 million and according to Forbes the current valuation is $8.8 BILLION with a B. When you're talking about that much money does it really matter if some season you lose $10 mil? You make it up and them some on the back end.

And if you think those valuations are fake, as this article states Marc Lasry sold 25% of the Bucks just last year at a valuation of $3.5 billion - that's an $875 million cash out for a minority owner.

And with the new TV deal NBA teams are going to be worth even more.

bqmuzik wrote:That's terrible cap management. On top of that they are paying 3 head coaches.

That's how the NBA has designed their rules - they make it hard for you to have and keep multiple star players on your roster. Bucks, with Giannis and Dame, are obviously trying to win a Championship, and when you're in that mode you can't worry about short term losses.

Of course no one wants to pay steep luxury taxes and have their roster flexibility throttled by the second apron if they aren't winning a lot of games - so don't be surprised to see them tear it down if the team underachieves.

bqmuzik wrote:That's terrible cap management. On top of that they are paying 3 head coaches.

Coach Bud is in Phoenix which means Milwaukee is no longer on the hook to pay him. but yes they're still paying Griffin because he isn't re-employed yet.

RealGM Wiretap wrote:Marc Lasry sold his ownership stake in the Bucks in 2023 to Jimmy Haslam for a $3.5 billion valuation.

Seems like everything Jimmy Haslam touches turns to ****. He is the infamous owner of the Cleveland Browns as well.