NBPA Exec Dir David Kelly “criticized the NBA’s salary cap and luxury tax system” on Friday, arguing that the newly implemented “‘second apron’ must be ‘softened’ or removed,” according to Ben Golliver of ESPN.com. Kelly said, “We are not fans of the second apron. We did not propose the second apron. We should have done a better job of fighting back against the second apron. In the future, we will have a much more unified union, and we will do a better job of fighting back.” NBA Commissioner Adam Silver contends that the “apron system was designed to foster parity,” but Kelly “argued the system was instituted in 2023 for ‘control cost purposes’ related to player salary.” Rockets G Fred VanVleet, who serves as NBPA president, said that the players are “not the only stakeholders raising questions about the impact of the aprons.” VanVleet said, “We’ve seen more teams, GMs, front offices, owners and agents have issues and concerns with the apron as well. That’s a little bit newer, right? We had to see it play out. It’s almost a consensus that it’s something that needs to be addressed.” Golliver noted the NBPA also “expressed dismay that the apron system was applying pressure on star players to accept discounted contracts to ensure their organizations could retain their teammates” (ESPN.com, 7/10).
CBA COLLAB? In Boston, Gary Washburn noted the NBPA has an opt-out clause in the current CBA in 2029, and that the players association will “seek to address the apron system before they potentially opt out of their agreement with the owners.” Kelly said, “We will come with our ideas, and there also often are, like, midterm negotiations in which things get tweaked. If we can get some tweaks, that will be fantastic. If not, then we’ll have to wait until the till ’29 or ’30.” Kelly also said that teams “moving away from homegrown players because of financial reasons is not good for fan bases.” Kelly: “It’s a problem for the fan base. It’s a problem, and to me, it puts in focus the issues with the system. So that will be a focus going into the next CBA negotiation is how do we make sure that whatever system we’re putting in place does not hurt fan interest and hurt players for the extent of, or to the benefit of some sort of cost control for certain number of owners” (BOSTON GLOBE, 7/11).
