The NBA and NBPA settled on the framework of a new collective bargaining agreement over the weekend. While the true impact of this deal won’t really be known for years to come, the fallout of a new CBA is always significant, with the consequences often arriving in an unintended fashion. (Remember when the supermax was supposed to help teams retain stars, only then those players started requesting trades even earlier because they wouldn’t re-sign? It helped the Lakers win a championship!) The new deal, which still needs to be ratified, will go into effect ahead of next season. Here are a few thoughts on some of the biggest changes.
1. The new tax apron is possibly the most important aspect of this deal. Teams operating in the luxury tax will now be met with a new hurdle: a second apron line of $17.5 million over the luxury tax line that introduces restrictions on roster construction. This mechanism is meant to penalize teams such as the Bucks, Clippers and Warriors, all of whom are paying deep into the tax for championship contenders this year. Teams that exceed this apron will not be allowed to use their taxpayer mid-level exception, cannot sign buyout players during the season and cannot take more money back in trades.
Simply put: I’m not a fan of this. The NBA is so obsessed with parity it penalizes teams that are actually willing to pay to be successful. Owners—all sitting on pretty, multibillion-dollar assets—should be encouraged to spend like Golden State, not creating rules to theoretically level the playing field. Again, what will the unintended consequences be? Think of a team like the Nuggets, which’ve drafted Jamal Murray, Michael Porter Jr. and Nikola Jokić. It’s not inconceivable as those players sign big deals and Denver brings in players around them that the Nuggets could end up dipping deeper into the tax more than they usually do. Why should they possibly meet roster-building restrictions just because they’ve drafted well and built a good team? These parity measures often feel shortsighted.
This new apron is also going to create some in-season complications. Dallas, for example, used its taxpayer mid-level in the summer and then traded for Kyrie Irving near the deadline, which in the new CBA would not have been possible (the Irving trade took them over the second apron). The merits of that trade have been debatable for the Mavs, but I appreciate the team had the flexibility to execute it. Not to mention a second apron discourages teams from spending money, which filters down to the players.
Ultimately, I look at a team like Golden State as good for the game. Dynasties draw eyeballs, and watching upstarts try to knock them off is very exciting. And yet it feels like time and time again the league is trying to make it harder for teams like the Warriors to exist. Even the Bucks, a smaller market franchise, have been willing to pay because of their title window with Giannis Antetokounmpo. Why does the league make me want to think those teams shouldn’t be fully going for it?