Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta on chasing titles: 'No problem paying luxury tax' if we can win

Sam Amick | USA TODAY

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HOUSTON – Tilman Fertitta is good for a laugh every few minutes.

The first-year Houston Rockets owner is holding court inside his Toyota Center suite before a mid-January game against the Golden State Warriors, sitting at the end of a table near CEO Tad Brown, his wife, Paige, 23-year-old son Patrick and media relations director Tracey Hughes. He’s discussing stressful topics, like the question of whether he’s ready to cut the massive payroll checks that will likely come with all this Rockets success.

Yet Fertitta, the 59-year-old restaurant and casino magnate who paid a then-record $2.2 billion for the team in September, still finds his way into a pressure-relieving punchline.

“One day when I close my eyes after having this wonderful life on earth, if I don't have a few championships I'm going to really be a pissed off son of a gun,” he says to a room full of laughs.

You get the point, though. Fertitta wants the Rockets to reach the NBA’s mountaintop again.

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Yet as much fun as this venture has already been, with the father of four who grew up in nearby Galveston loving this new ownership life as the Rockets head into the All-Star break with the NBA’s best record (44-13), there is a price to pay for the prospect of winning it all. The Rockets are in position to become long-term title contenders, with Chris Paul set to be a free agent this summer along with the possibility of landing LeBron James in free agency. And wondrous as that might sound, the question of exorbitant overhead is already front and center.

Scenarios abound – none of them cheap and all of them requiring Fertitta to be the financial backbone.

“The NBA is a tough business, No. 1,” Fertitta begins. “And you can go from making money to losing money very quickly. Everybody has to remember, I did pay $2.2 billion for this team. I didn't pay $80 million for it, okay? And I'm not worth $20 billion (his reported wealth is $4.3 billion), but I have no problem paying luxury tax if I truly think that it truly gives me the chance to win the championship next year, okay? But believe it or not, we're not in the luxury tax today and we truly have a chance to win the championship this year.”

Translation: Check back when he knows what he’s paying for. If the Rockets were to re-sign Paul to a maximum salary deal and retain center Clint Capela (a restricted free agent) and small forward Trevor Ariza too (unrestricted), then they’re barreling into luxury tax territory just to keep this team together.

While Fertitta can’t discuss players who are on other teams, it’s no secret that the Rockets are expected to pursue James this summer. As SB Nation’s Tim Cato detailed in early December, there are several complicated scenarios that could lead to the Cleveland Cavaliers star joining Paul, James Harden & Co. in Houston.

Strange as it sounds, landing James as a free agent – which would require general manager Daryl Morey to wheel and deal his way into salary cap space that currently doesn’t exist – would likely be the cheapest way to go. Yet if James were to take Paul’s strategy from last summer, picking up the player option on his deal while forcing a trade from Cleveland (and with Paul likely taking a less-than-max deal to return), the bill would be massive. Fertitta & Co. – none of whom discussed these scenarios involving James – will cross this bridge when they get to it.

“I could put the greatest team together in the world, and (the team) could become unhealthy and somebody else is healthy, and we lose,” Fertitta continued. “I think that you always have to be realistic enough that - however we plan things, that doesn't mean it's going to happen the way we want it to happen. And I can go put a team together (of stars), and be paying $150 million or $200 million in luxury tax, and a couple of guys get injured and I get my ass whipped.”

Enter Morey, who has clicked with Fertitta during the early months of their crucial partnership and who has long since become one of the NBA’s best executives.

“It’s been fantastic; very smooth,” said Morey, who was stunned when Les Alexander decided to sell the team over the summer. “Plus, Tillman’s come in and already pushing us to do more things different ways – different ways we can invest to win, different ways we can upgrade things for players. He’s part of the planning process. It’s been great.

“We’ve talked through (the luxury tax). We’re going to be in the tax next year, and…nothing’s going to hold him back from putting together a championship team. He obviously has the money; he just paid the highest amount ever for a team.”

If only the Rockets weren’t so good last season, I joke, he could have saved some money on that massive purchase price. Fertitta, true to form, is up for another quip.

“I wouldn't have paid $2.2 billion (for the team); I would've paid $1.5 (billion),” he says with a laugh. “I would've rather they'd won 15 games last season.”

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