{"id":2044673,"date":"2026-07-15T12:11:47","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T09:11:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2044673"},"modified":"2026-07-15T12:11:47","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T09:11:47","slug":"nba-commissioner-adam-silver-defends-second-apron-says-the-system-is-fair","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2044673","title":{"rendered":"NBA commissioner Adam Silver defends second apron, says the system is fair"},"content":{"rendered":"
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LAS VEGAS \u2014 The second apron has swiftly changed the shape of the NBA. It has forced champions to break up in the blink of an eye and even convinced stars to take hometown discounts.<\/p>\n

Depending on who is asked, its impact ranges from improving the league to eroding the NBA at its core. The National Basketball Players Association\u2019s new leadership says it\u2019s time for a change, even if it\u2019s just a small tweak. But commissioner Adam Silver pushed back Tuesday.<\/p>\n

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\u201cOne person\u2019s tweak is another person\u2019s overhaul to the system,\u201d Silver said at a news conference following the league\u2019s board of governors meeting in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

At his introductory news conference last week, NBPA executive director David Kelly kicked off his tenure with conviction, laying the groundwork for a campaign against the second apron as it was constructed under the current CBA.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it needs to be addressed,\u201d Kelly said Friday. \u201cDepends on whether or not the league feels it needs to be addressed and they feel the same sort of pressure that it needs to be addressed that they felt around the draft because of the tanking issue. We will come with our ideas, and there often are midterm negotiations in which things get tweaked. If we can get some tweaks, that would be fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n

But when his counterpart was asked about coming back to the negotiating table over the second apron during this CBA, Silver was not interested.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think at the time we sit down to negotiate the new collective bargaining agreement, there will be things that the players will want and, as usual, there will be things that the teams want,\u201d Silver said. \u201cAnd, once again, we\u2019ll look at all those issues in totality and see what makes the most sense. But, as I always have, we\u2019ll begin by stating our objectives. Our objective here is to have a system financially that makes sense for the league and fairly rewards the players.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Silver reiterated that the second apron was put into place to ensure that the playing field was level regardless of ownership\u2019s ability to spend big. Introduced in the 2023 CBA, it is a payroll threshold (about $222 million this season) that comes with a slew of drastic short- and long-term roster-building restrictions. It eliminates many free-agency exceptions, constrains trade flexibility and handcuffs draft picks far into the future. It is essentially designed to give teams two years to send the payroll high into the second apron territory before making moves to get out of it.<\/p>\n

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It is forcing teams to be more prudent with their contract decisions, especially with who gets max deals. When the designated rookie and veteran supermax extensions were first introduced, they were designed to give teams an advantage in retaining their players by paying them more. But in a league where All-Stars always push for the max, the supermax is having the opposite effect in some situations.<\/p>\n

The second apron is forcing teams to be even more judicious with handing out max contracts, particularly as the league has shifted from hunting star trios to building depth around an elite player. One potential amendment to the second apron is to have max players who meet the supermax criteria still only count for the standard max (25 percent for rookie extensions, 30 percent for veteran extensions), which Kelly supported as a tweak to renegotiate in the near term. But Silver was not open to renegotiating early.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe actually think that makes sense around certain issues around the second apron, whether it\u2019s drafted players, whether it\u2019s a Bird exception for certain players,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cThe ability to keep teams together, I think, will help fan interest and will still allow for player movement, but allow players to have the decision of staying where they want to stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two players are shaping the discourse around the second apron during summer league. On one hand, Jaylen Brown was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers weeks before he became eligible to sign a two-year extension worth over $140 million with the Boston Celtics. Brad Stevens, the Celtics president of basketball operations, said the trade was made in part because he did not want to build Boston\u2019s roster around two players making 70 percent of the cap.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have to negotiate better exceptions to that second apron and soften that apron that would allow teams to be able to dip over in certain circumstances for a player like Jaylen Brown,\u201d Kelly said.<\/p>\n

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Why did the Celtics trade Jaylen Brown?<\/div>\n
Jay King and Jeshua Kidd<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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