At the end of 2025-26, the Cavaliers' league-high $67.6M luxury tax bill sat beside 52 wins, the eighth-most

2026-10-07

At the end of 2025-26, nine NBA teams owed the luxury tax, and the Cleveland Cavaliers owed the most: $67.6M.

The tax alone made up 24% of an Effective Payroll of $279.7M, the highest of the 30 teams.

The season that money covered produced 52 wins, the eighth-most in the league, and a run to the conference finals, where Cleveland's season ended.

Measured against that bill, the 52 wins left the Cavaliers' WAGE Score at 35 for 2025-26, 19th of 30 teams, within the Going Rate tier.

The bills just below Cleveland's sat beside different seasons. The Golden State Warriors owed $65.7M of tax and won 37 games. The New York Knicks owed $44.6M and won 53.

Further down the list, the Houston Rockets owed $7.1M and matched Cleveland's 52 wins. The Boston Celtics owed $4.9M, the smallest bill of the nine, and won 56, the most of any team that paid.

Across the nine taxpayers, the size of the bill and the count of wins did not line up in the same order.

For Cleveland, 2026-27 puts the same question to the money: whether a bill at the top of the league returns wins near the top of it. The record reaches its next reading twenty games into the new season.