The Second Apron is ruining the NBA

[THE 101]

The players and individual salaries don't really get screwed though do they? Just the team as a whole

Superstar players' money will continue to go up but players on the middle class and lower will definitely suffer.

 

[DjMe]

Eventually, it will be absolutely fantastic for the league.
This is the spiritual successor of the non-guaranteed contract that everyone loves about the NFL.
In that league, every March when a new league year starts, teams have to be under the cap one way or the other. Whether that means restructuring contracts to kick the can further down the road (Saints), or cutting household names on bloated contracts (Buffalo last offseason), it's a fact of life for them.
Now the NBA essentially has that, because the penalties for overage are so harsh.

What you're seeing now is phase 1 of the readjustment to this new rule, where rosters are reshuffled so everyone can:
a) be under, but more importantly
b) stay under

the next phase of game play is going to be roster building to take advantage of these rules, and that will mean good "teams" need to become good "programs" that can develop cheap (rookie) talent. That's a large part of what has made the NBA trash for a bit... young talent has been trade fodder, it's why looking at a team's draft picks is such a ridiculous exercise in what-ifs. They get traded away with protections like it's a futures market for penny stocks.

The "new" NBA is going to be,
who's your superstar?
how do you augment their strengths and mitigate their weaknesses through roster construction?

Potentially, long term, this could result in the NBA being less of a homogenous 3-point spamming exhibition.

But this is literally 10-15 years down the road. The pro teams have to adjust their rosters, then their programs, then the youth game needs to adjust accordingly.

Its not that super teams were a problem, its just that the game was meaningless. Imagine if you were playing monopoly and every time you wanted a property you didn't have monopoly money for, you could just borrow money from the bank interest free (in monopoly money), but by paying everyone else at the table 5$ (in real money)? Yeah, you're winning (good for you), and everyone else at the table is making money (good for them), but for anyone watching it's just basically watching wealth redistribution for billionaires.

 

[Belize King]

At the end of the day, players get 51%??? Of basketball related revenue. These super maxes are killing teams. The “best” player should only see 25% at the most. Players about to see 70M a year. Why should two players eat up 70% of you cap space?

shyt is stupid. If you want to still reward stars, make it harder. Bradley Beal isn’t a star. A star is a top 15 player. All NBA 3 out of 5 years should be the minimum for 25% cap players.

Spread the wealth to make it easier to build a roster.

 

[Diondon]

Oh noes, it not LA, Boston every year
what you mean we have to draft wisely and cultivate players?
we can't just stack superteams or go play with our homeboy?

 

[Harry B]

It’s not free money though. I still have to hawk your product.


For every person who needs to endorse something to “make up for it” there’s a player who gets that money AND the big NBA deal. You’re still down in the grand scheme.

no not if you overpay exactly like I said.

Like if I give you a billion bucks to not take a salary, to say “hi I am termon hustler and I approve this message”, are you down in any type of scheme of things?

 

[mastermind]

Oh noes, it not LA, Boston every year
what you mean we have to draft wisely and cultivate players?
we can't just stack superteams or go play with our homeboy?

You say this yet Oklahoma City and Denver are two title teams that have felt and will feel the consequences of the second apron.

 

[Diondon]

You say this yet Oklahoma City and Denver are two title teams that have felt and will feel the consequences of the second apron.

Traditionally thats why sucky teams like Washington stayed horrible
say they land a decent layer they tend to overpay and cant put a squad around him
So he leaves for grreener pastures
Also, role players that win a chip like KCP tend to get overated a bit and go chase a big payday

 

[SchoolboyC]

You say this yet Oklahoma City and Denver are two title teams that have felt and will feel the consequences of the second apron.

Also Minnesota having to trade KAT

And now that Evan Mobley’s rookie deal is over and his max kicked in, Cleveland is now a 2nd apron team and the clock is ticking on them

People thinking of this as a “large market punishment” are short sighted.

The NBA is the NFL now, where once your stars get off their rookie deals your window immediately starts shrinking.

 

[FTBS]

For everyone supporting this and providing all these thoughtful reasons why, you need to understand the owners dont give a fukk about you or that . Owners really got folks thinking they give a fukk about competive balance or the state of the game or your entertainment. No...they give a fukk about making and keeping as much money as possible and that is priority 1, 2, 3 through infinity for every decision.

We had a system where there was a limit on what you could do in FA but you could re-sign your own players for any amount with no limit. Meaning teams that drafted and developed well were rewarded, big markets couldnt just sign everybody, and players didnt have to pick between winning and getting their money. What happened? Owners said "Hell naw" and locked they asses out...over money they were choosing to pay Every single measure since then has just put more money in owners pockets while creating something else for them to eventually address in the next CBA. The "superteam" era that everyone hated (while watching) was a direct result of max salaries. Yet folks blamed players and caped for owners. This will have its own consequences. And somehow it will be the players fault

 

[FaTaL]

Also Minnesota having to trade KAT

And now that Evan Mobley’s rookie deal is over and his max kicked in, Cleveland is now a 2nd apron team and the clock is ticking on them

People thinking of this as a “large market punishment” are short sighted.

The NBA is the NFL now, where once your stars get off their rookie deals your window immediately starts shrinking.

when is shai getting that super max extension?

 

[Sly Cookin]

It's good for the league

 

[charknicks]

I can agree with that. There should be an exception for teams who drafted well, specifically for those players.

I agree. There should be a discount against the cap if you drafted that player. Maybe only 75 or 80% of their salary counts toward the cap if you drafted them. Puts more importance on the draft to be honest.
Only caveat: you dont get the discount in a draft day trade.

 

[tremonthustler1]

We had a system where there was a limit on what you could do in FA but you could re-sign your own players for any amount with no limit. Meaning teams that drafted and developed well were rewarded, big markets couldnt just sign everybody, and players didnt have to pick between winning and getting their money. What happened? Owners said "Hell naw" and locked they asses out...over money they were choosing to pay

The soft cap didn’t go away. The penalties for spending that much is more punitive. Your tax bill is more expensive (which some owners don’t and didn’t care about), your future picks will be frozen 7 year out and if one of your signings fukks up, it’s harder to get out of it. That’s the big change,

Now teams gotta be smart. The people who complain the most are fans of teams who had it easier the old way (surprise) and content creators who find that every fun trade they make on trade machine fails.

What teams used to be scared of was paying the luxury tax period and paying repeater taxes and stuff. Now most teams sign up for that because it only costs money. The 2nd apron hampers team building long term.

 

[mastermind]

We had a system where there was a limit on what you could do in FA but you could re-sign your own players for any amount with no limit. Meaning teams that drafted and developed well were rewarded, big markets couldnt just sign everybody, and players didnt have to pick between winning and getting their money.

The comedy about this period is teams like the Jazz, Spurs, Pacers, etc kept their best players and were perennial championship contenders.

 

[FTBS]

The soft cap didn’t go away. The penalties for spending that much is more punitive. Your tax bill is more expensive (which some owners don’t and didn’t care about), your future picks will be frozen 7 year out and if one of your signings fukks up, it’s harder to get out of it. That’s the big change,

Now teams gotta be smart. The people who complain the most are fans of teams who had it easier the old way (surprise) and content creators who find that every fun trade they make on trade machine fails.

What teams used to be scared of was paying the luxury tax period and paying repeater taxes and stuff. Now most teams sign up for that because it only costs money. The 2nd apron hampers team building long term.

Soooo...it went away?

Teams always had to be smart. Now they can be cheap and they have an excuse and being smart is actually punished.