Los Angeles Lakers

Are the Los Angeles Lakers in the luxury tax in 2026-27?

Yes. The Lakers owe an estimated $3.6M luxury-tax bill for 2026-27, sitting $1.2M into the tax.

This includes a projected signing that is not yet official, so these figures are an estimate.

Tax line

$200.4M

Tax payroll

$201.6M

Margin

-$1.2M

Tax bill (repeater)

$3.6M

The tax line sits at $200.4M. The Lakers' tax payroll (contracts plus dead money; cap holds don't count here) is $201.6M, which puts them $1.2M over.

The bill is charged in $6.1M bands above the line at the steeper repeater rates: $3.00 on the first band. That works out to about $3.6M, at repeater rates because they have paid the tax in three of the last four seasons. The basketball penalties (lost exceptions, trade restrictions) start at the aprons above the tax line.

The rule behind this

The luxury tax is a financial penalty line above the salary cap. Teams whose payroll (contracts, dead money, and drafted rookies booked as signed; free-agent holds don't count here) exceeds it pay a tax on the overage, at rates that escalate in brackets the deeper a team goes.

What is the luxury tax? →What is the repeater tax? →What is the first apron? →