Everything to know about the NBA's apron rules, luxury tax, restrictions & more! | NBA on ESPN

all right a happy Monday hopefully everyone's great we got draft week and then we've got uh free agency next Sunday a lot going on here I am in uh as you can see behind me Brooklyn New York uh just got back from LA on Saturday night and got up to Brooklyn on Sunday and uh we are I feel like we've done like three videos at ease but I feel like we always need to kind of give people um a refresher um especially how the apron rules have changed we did a video in I think we did a video last year when the CBA rules came out and then we did another video in April and we're going to do another video on on the apron rules um and we're going to try to just I don't want to say dumb it down but make it really easy for people to understand because I do think people especially when I put out the slide and it has all the restrictions people's heads are like spinning like uh like crazy here um so we have a article up Tim bontemps and I on espn.com the article is free it is not an e+ article at least I don't think it's an e+ article where we basically go through uh the apron and the 12 plus teams that it impacts basically half the league um we talk about each team we talk you know we basically lead with the quote from uh Josh koni the vice chairman of the Denver Nuggets where basically he said the roster they built in Denver the championship team in 2023 was built under a different set of rules he is correct um and now the high spending three max team of Denver um is going to feel the squeeze of these rules and it basically will force you to make decisions as one team executive um said to me it's it's not like the league is telling you you can't you you can't keep your roster together they're not saying that it's not a technically a hard cap but what they are saying is that for you to add whether it be in a trade or in free agency or in the buyout Market um it becomes extremely extremely difficult um and there are consequences whether you know a transaction will hard cap you um so there are basically instead of the old days used to be you made it trade and you'd go to your owner and You' say it's going to cost me $20 million nowadays you make a trade and it's okay it's going to cost me luxury tax it's going to cost me am I going to get hard capped at the first apron am I hard capped at the second apron all these different like four step rules and we're going to go into the rules in a minute and I and I'll give you an example real quick Oklahoma City and and Chicago made a trade last week Josh giddy for um Alex Caruso Caruso's contract um was had $3 million was guaranteed giddies was like around seven um because technically Chicago was taking back more money they would have hard capped themselves at the first apron I have my notes right here because it is at one it's 178.6 okay so in that scenario they guarantee the contract now instead of3 million going out it's $9 million going out and they're taking back less money they are not hard C at the first apron those are Oklahoma City's hard CA but you don't have to worry about them because at the first apron because they're so they have so much flexibility as far as with um you know where they are cap space wise so those are that's like the thinking here and listen Bon Temps and I do not want to be the apron police we don't want to you guys can go out and and I think the fun of it all is putting together fantasy trades and hypothetical trades and Paul George trades and to New York to Golden State I'm not going to stand on a on a Ledge and say that can't happen go ahead and do it and stuff like that well when we get to the point where maybe if something gets close then we'll come in and say like hey this is what is going to happen okay so here's here's where we need to look at it from the apron standpoint there are two things right You' you've got we call it the bandwidths of the salary cap you've got the salary cap which is going to be at um projected $141 million okay salary cap is a soft cap you can exceed it to resign your own players you can see the the luxury tax to resign your own players um we have you know five teams that are in under basically under the salary cap they can go out and spend on free agency PA Philly can go out and spend um you know on Paul George or whoever they want to do contabas call po then we have the luxury tax okay once you exceed the luxury tax which is projected at 171 you pay a penalty it's a basically a sliding scale um if you're over the penal if you're over the luxury tax $3 million it's um you know $150 for every dollar right we're not going to do a luxury tax demonstration then we have the first apron okay the first apron is roughly $7 million over the luxury tax so next year or this in about a week when 2024 25 calendar starts we are projecting the luxury tax I mean the first apron at $178.7 million now you could still exceed it okay you could still go over it however you can't go over it if you trigger these type of transactions okay if you acquire a player and ass signing trade that rule has not changed okay so let's say you are at $174 million you want to acquire a player making $10 million in a sign and trade that is not allowed okay you are not allowed to use a pre-existing trade exception um Atlanta's got a $25 million trade exception they go out and uh they're right at the apron um because you have to also look at salaries for next next season okay Minnesota although they're under the apron now the league is looking at your salary starting on July 1 so if you have a $4 million trade exception and you're already over the first apron for next year that is not allowed so pre-existing trade exceptions if it ex if it puts you over the first apron you are not allowed to take back more money in a trade um you trade a $25 million player for a $27 million player the trade works you can do it but it will trigger the first apron okay so if you're at 165 million you're below it you're about $13 million you could still go out and make a trade and take back more money however now it triggers the first apron G give you an example Sacramento is at $174 million roughly and with bonuses when um you look at the um when you look at I'm getting text here right now I'm like distracted when you look at the Malik monk agreement if they go out and trade for a player making 26 million they send out 25 million now they are hard capped at that $178.7 million first apron okay um this is during the regular season we knew this rule before and now allowed to acquire a player or sign a player who was waved had a salary of $12.9 million a more preexist existing salary that's just for the regular season this doesn't apply to the offseason so if someone gets waved at making 20 million go ahead and sign them okay you are allowed to if you create a new trade exception if you trade out a $20 million player for a $15 million player and you create a $5 million trade exception you are allowed to use that you are allowed to use the $5.2 million uh tax mid level Denver did that last year as long as you stay under the um long as you stay under the second apron you're allowed to do that okay um that's the first Aon so that's the L of the restrictions here as far as where teams are okay the second apron which is now roughly $1 189.5 million so it's $10 million roughly above the first apron roughly $17 million above the um above the luxury tax the apron levels grow as the salary cap grows okay so if the salary cap goes from 141 to 155 next year in 2526 the April will get a nice little boost as far as where the growth will be and that is the most important part of it that it will grow as this salary cap grows but here's your here's your restrictions for the second apron teams okay so these are your your Boston your Phoenix's maybe Clips um of the world your high Milwaukee and remember unlikely bonuses count towards the apron no matter what so if Chris Middleton did not earn bonuses they continue to count Tyler hero did not earn bonuses they continue to count against the apron okay no matter what uh not allowed to acquire player and assign a trade same not allowed to use a pre-existing trade exceptions it's the same not allowed to take back more money in a trade it's the same as the first apron not allowed to aggregate contracts in a trade what do aggregate meet if Phoenix wanted to trade um yourf nerkish and a SE little and take back a player earning $23 million that is not allowed um not allowed to sign a player wave during a regular season we've talked about that who was bought out here's one not allowed to sign and trade your own free agent if the incoming salary exceeded the second apron if Phoenix wanted to trade Royce O'Neal and take back a $15 million player that is not allowed um not allowed to use a trade exception created from a sign and trade um so if you signed and traded a player making 10 million you didn't take anything back it creates a $10 million trade exception you not allowed to use that um you're allowed to use a trade exception created that's the same if a new trade exception is created um your 2032 first is frozen if you finish the 2024 25 season um over the apron that doesn't get calculated until next June right remember we work in a seven-year window so basically we go from 2025 to 2031 once the calendar flips next year at the draft then we're looking at 2032 Okay so those are your apron and a nutshell restrictions we've got slides out we can show it here are your teams that are impacted okay when you're looking at teams like Atlanta Memphis Portland do I think those three teams will be in the luxury tax in the first apron no those teams are Quasi rebuilding teams right now but for right now we are treating them as apron teams you are looking at Phoenix in the second apron you are looking at Milwaukee in the second apron you are looking at Boston in the second apron we are looking at potentially um the Lakers in the second apron possibly I think a lot of it depends and I've been saying it all along what happens with d'angel Russell that dictates what flexibility they have and here's the thing everybody's thrown around deante Murray for the Lakers if the Lakers go out and get deante Murray you basically eliminate the ability to go resign Max Christie and build out your roster because now you get hard capped because the likelihood is that you are taking more salary back when you are looking at the dejon Murray trade bonus that is factored in there so if you trade ruy hachimura for Deon Murray and you give him a first I don't I'm just throwing out hypothetical you are not allowed to do that because it will hard cap you okay so that's the Lakers the Clippers are a wild card right we don't we're waiting to see what happens with Paul George James Harden they could go from potentially a cap space team to a a below luxury tax team to a second apron Paul George and James Harden come back back they're in the second apron okay we talked about the Lakers the heat are waiting on decisions right now they're right in the first apron kale Martin comes if they want to sign kale Martin or Hayward heith they go in the second apron um we talked about Memphis Miami I'm just the Nicks I know everybody's throwing around Paul uh Paul PA Paul George scenarios the New York is in a second apron if OG and hartenstein come back and you keep BD donovic and Mitchell Robinson that's why you're hearing all these Robinson rumors because it forces you to choose who you want to keep you can run back your roster in New York you can do that but you all will be in the second apron so when that next disgruntled Allstar becomes available you will not be able to put contracts together to send out Portland we talked about uh the Celtics Celtics Celtics could be paying $450 million in 2025 26 right and that's we wrote about it the punitive restrictions kick in 2526 Denver is a wild card kavia is COA pop Milwaukee Minnesota Clips Phoenix um and who does it benefit okay who does it benefit it benefits teams that are under the salary cap it benefits the in between teams like Brooklyn and Washington um Houston it benefits the teams that are nowhere near that can go out and absorb salary of course golden state is the team to watch this week um June 28th is the Chris Paul guarantee if Chris Paul is waved and they elect not to bring back Klay Thompson they are B well below the luxury tax they're right at the salary cap they can go out and hypothetically make a Paul George a Paul a Paul George um for Wiggins kaminga and Gary Payton type trade that will be allowed it triggers the second apron but they have so much flexibility that they'll be able to maneuver so 14 minutes on the apron God I hope this taped we will talk soon [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause]

Channel: NBA on ESPN

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Id: PBg93UDRYiI

Length: 14min 14sec (854 seconds)

Published: Mon Jun 24 2024