The new NBA CBA makes it much more difficult to finalize trades, especially for 1st/2nd apron teams.

Oct 2, 2024
1:21:26pm

TCuz Coastal Elite

Including that you are not allowed to take back more salary than you let go, and you can’t aggregate minimum contracts.

The Knicks got around the first one by signing a bunch of random players at the end of last year that you’ve never heard of, having some form of Bird rights to them, and then signing those players to minimum contracts + $1 and shipping them out to a random team (Charlotte) in the trade.

That way both NY and Minnesota didn’t get back more salary then they sent out, and NY technically didn’t aggregate minimum contracts (because they were $1 above the minimum).

Anyway, I only understand like 10% of this. They made it so needlessly complicated and the Knicks still found their way around it.

The apron restrictions in the 2023 CBA have forced teams to be creative.

Both New York and Minnesota were not allowed to take back more salary because they were over the first apron.

Here is how the trade was structured.

The Randle number is higher because of the trade bonus. https://t.co/EAyYAH46RI pic.twitter.com/dn1q7DmzGV
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) October 2, 2024

https://twitter.com/BobbyMarks42/status/1841474914613923949

I have heard from various people that the league isn’t thrilled about this — but such is the way it goes with new CBAs. The NBA tries to close up loopholes and then smart people working for teams find new ones. https://t.co/7qfQEujxRi
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) October 2, 2024