The NBA teams in order of tax (categorized in tiers, not ranked in the tiers though):

Minnesota
Cleveland
Washington
New Jersey
Golden State
LAC
LAL
Sacramento
Portland
New York

Boston
Philadelphia
Toronto
Chicago
Milwaukee
Atlanta
Charlotte
Oklahoma City
Utah
New Orleans

Dallas
Houston
Miami
San Antonio
Memphis
Orlando
Indiana
Phoenix
Denver
Detroit


With the exception of NY, LAL, and Portland, the top 10 teams with the highest taxes are consistently at the bottom of their divisions in the standings.

The average final record of the top 10 in taxes is 32-50.
The average final record of the middle 10 in taxes is 43-39.
The average final record of the bottom 10 in taxes is 47-35.

Of course, there are other factors, including popularity of the team (often based on how well the team has done in recent years), or just the general attitude of the city towards basketball.

Quality post. Good job TC :)

This is also why American basketball teams are so much better than their European counterparts. Because European cities tend to have tax rates even higher than the most-taxed cities in the US, their basketball teams tend to be weaker.

Statistics!

Do any of the top European players stay in Europe? I don't follow the European leagues at all. With the lockout Europe will potentially get a lot more attention from American fans. I wonder who has the rights to their games.

Acmac, for sure taxes aren't the determining factor. It was just interesting to see the results. Jerry Buss has made a mockery of it certainly. It also seems that the NBA's lack of revenue sharing between big market and small market teams, unlike football and baseball to a degree, skews the effect of taxes in a way not seen in the other two sports.