The NBA's second salary-cap apron has become a flashpoint between players and the league, with the 2029 collective bargaining agreement opt-out now shaping the conversation.
NBPA executive director David Kelly said the apron's limits push teams—including the Celtics, Thunder and Knicks—to make roster decisions based solely on avoiding financial and transactional penalties.
Player agent Greg Lawrence, who represents Klay Thompson, Alex Caruso and Domantas Sabonis, said the apron system functions as a de facto hard salary cap—and that the NBPA essentially agreed to it.
This offseason, only two teams used their non-taxpayer mid-level exception. The Celtics signed Mitchell Robinson, and the Spurs added Tobias Harris, moves that hard-capped both franchises at the first apron.
Lawrence said the luxury tax, introduced in 2002, began a 20-to-25-year process of restricting spending—all while the league has generated rising revenues and television deals.
Owners can afford to take a long-term view of those financial restrictions, Lawrence said. Players, with typically shorter careers, often cannot.
Salaries are rising for superstars, but the apron system discourages teams from re-signing their own players because of steep luxury tax bills. Lawrence said that dynamic is eliminating the middle class among NBA players.
Anfernee Simons, 27, accepted a $21 million pay cut from his previous season's salary to join the 76ers—an example, Lawrence said, of quality players being pressured into below-market deals.
Lawrence said he hopes the union's new leadership takes a harder line. He wants players educated on how the system works and where it can be challenged.
He pointed to baseball's union as a model of player resolve, arguing NBA players need to show similar commitment.
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has said the system promotes league-wide parity by dispersing talent, even when that means teams must trade stars due to financial constraints.
Teams have grown more reluctant to hand out massive contracts under the new financial structure. Only one of the past 10 champions—the 2022 Golden State Warriors—paid two players a combined salary exceeding 60 percent of the salary cap.
