New York city is the Greatest city in the world. They have so many great sports teams. There is a reason why the Knicks are worth over 2 billion dollars and the most valued sports basketball team in the world. We have some of the greatest fans in the world. People who work hard in their jobs and come to MSG and enjoy a boxing match, hockey, college ball, and the New York Knicks. Most people don't walk around with a chip on their shoulder 24-7. They enjoy the moment and that's why I will be going to about 10 Knicks games this season. 1 reason is because I can afford to. 2nd is because it's better to be happy and put all the doom and gloom behind you. It's more healthier. Ask any doctor.They need to restructure the tax fees in the NBA so it can be fair to all.

Bonn1997 wrote:

meloshouldgo wrote:

Knixkik wrote:

Rookie wrote:I'm surprised that this issue isn't addressed by the NBA. It is not a level playing field when teams can use their state income tax laws to create an unfair advantage in recruiting players basically offering more then teams in states like NY that have a higher income tax.

It really is as simple as using real after tax numbers instead of pre tax numbers. When a team in a particular state, like Texas for example, can offer a player an additional 4-5M more then another team, it creates an unfair advantage for that team that other teams in the league do not have. Am I wrong here?

The cost of living is different everywhere in the country. State income tax aside, it's a lot cheaper to live in Salt Lake City, San Antonio, Denver, Charlotte, etc etc etc than NYC, LAL, Boston, DC, etc. Team salary caps don't adjust for that. It's the same for every team. So for teams in small markets that is also an advantage. So if state income tax is a problem, then it's just a small part of a much bigger problem. That is the way i see it at least.

Cost of living applies to people like us. It's almost irrelevant to people making millions. The tax on the other hand makes a sizeable difference.

The same house might be $2 vs. 10 million. That's just as big a difference as the state income tax.

I think the core argument goes against the spirit of the intent of cost of living calculations - it's intended for common people as guide to understanding the differences between costs for lodging/food/transportation/education etc. When you are buying a house for 2M or 20M you clearly don't have affordability issues that would keep you from moving from one place to another. Its a "need" based argument not a "want" based argument. At least that was the intended spirit of it IMO.

Vmart wrote:

dk7th wrote:this tax break issue is stupid. new york city is the greatest city on earth despite the high percentage of riff raff in the knicks fanbase.

the reason players are loath to come here is not because of the tax situation it's because the knicks and msg have been so utterly ****ty for so long that living in new york is not enough to make the commitment to come here.

maybe when that changes great players truly worth those millions won't care.

MSG isn't the reason players don't want to come here it's the media. It has always been the Media.

it's certainly true the media is much more intense here, but don't you think a modicum of actual viability and success would dampen their voraciousness? you know, silence the critics?

WaltLongmire wrote:

dk7th wrote:

Vmart wrote:

dk7th wrote:this tax break issue is stupid. new york city is the greatest city on earth despite the high percentage of riff raff in the knicks fanbase.

the reason players are loath to come here is not because of the tax situation it's because the knicks and msg have been so utterly ****ty for so long that living in new york is not enough to make the commitment to come here.

maybe when that changes great players truly worth those millions won't care.

MSG isn't the reason players don't want to come here it's the media. It has always been the Media.

it's certainly true the media is much more intense here, but don't you think a modicum of actual viability and success would dampen their voraciousness? you know, silence the critics?

Reporters hunt for stories in NYC, and are even able to manufacture controversies and start debates. Topics on UK feed off some of the angles taken by reporters. They will find/create negative stories even when things are going well.

The combination of social media, ubiquitous devices that take photos or movies in a second, and all of the "temptations" in the city make NYC a breeding ground for publicity, both good and bad. Add to that reporters who will ask questions that would not have been asked 50 years ago, and you have a situation that many players don't, or can't, want to deal with.

i still want to believe that winning cures a lot of that. it has been so long since the knicks have been viable it's hard to imagine the glamour that surrounds winners in nyc. i don't recall even the 90s knicks having that, and that may be due to how ugly they played the game for the most part.

it's hard to even remember the glamour and glory that those 69-73 teams brought, but that is in fact what's informing my "reasoning" here.

Vmart wrote:

dk7th wrote:this tax break issue is stupid. new york city is the greatest city on earth despite the high percentage of riff raff in the knicks fanbase.

the reason players are loath to come here is not because of the tax situation it's because the knicks and msg have been so utterly ****ty for so long that living in new york is not enough to make the commitment to come here.

maybe when that changes great players truly worth those millions won't care.

MSG isn't the reason players don't want to come here it's the media. It has always been the Media.