One of the biggest changes in the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement (CBA) is the introduction of the second apron.
This second apron was designed to make penalties more punitive for teams that spend well above the luxury tax, thus theoretically shrinking the gap between the big spenders and the small market teams when it comes to roster building.
Here's what you need to know about the second apron and the salary cap heading into the 2023-24 season.
MORE: NBA free agency predictions: Guessing landing spots for top stars
How much is the NBA salary cap, luxury tax, first apron, second apron in 2023-24?
Here are the big financial figures for the 2023-24 season:
- Salary cap: $136 million
- Luxury tax: $165 million
- First apron: $172 million
- Second apron: $182.5 million
The salary cap is the amount of money that every team has available to spend on their roster. Teams below the $136 million cap create cap room that they can spend on incoming free agents.
Teams can go over the salary cap by using cap exceptions. For instance, the league has created Bird exceptions to make it easier for a team to retain its own free agents. Most teams go well over the $136 million salary cap using these exceptions but try to stay under the $165 million luxury tax line.
Penalties begin at that luxury tax line. The first are simply financial fines, which are distributed to the non-taxpaying teams at the end of the year.
As teams go further into the tax, they approach the apron where roster-building penalties are added in.
What are the penalties for the first apron?
The first apron hits when a team's payroll exceeds $172 million. At this point, the following restrictions are triggered:
- Teams cannot acquire a player in a sign-and-trade if that player keeps them above the apron
- Teams cannot sign a player waived during the regular season whose salary was over the $12.2 million midlevel exception
- Salary matching in trades must be within 110 percent, rather than 125 percent for teams not above the apron
What are the penalties for the second apron?
All of the penalties for the first apron apply to the second apron as well, which is triggered when a team's salary exceeds $182.5 million. For the 2023-24 season, one additional penalty is added when crossing the second apron:
- No access to the $5 million taxpayer midlevel exception
Starting at the end of the 2023-24 season, even more restrictions will be added to the second apron. These include:
- Teams cannot use a trade exception generated by aggregating the salaries of multiple players
- Teams cannot include cash in a trade
- Teams cannot use a trade exception generated in a prior year
- First-round picks seven years out are frozen (unable to be traded)
- A team's first-round pick is moved to the end of the first round if they remain in the second apron for three out of five seasons
These penalties are much more stringent than under the old CBA. Previously, owners with deep pockets could go well into the luxury tax as long as they were willing to pay. Now, teams who enter the second apron will have difficulty adding any sort of new talent via trades or free agent acquisitions.
