While the NBA's current Collective Bargaining Agreement technically went into effect in 2023, many of the rules affecting tax apron teams weren't fully implemented until 2024. As a result, last summer was a crash course for teams, fans, and reporters alike on those new rules, giving us our first look at the impact they'll have on team-building going forward.
With the 2024/25 season under our belts, we're better equipped entering the 2025 offseason to assess how those new rules - and some old ones - will affect teams' ability to make trades and sign free agents this summer. Still, I've seen some confusion and misrepresentation regarding a few specific rules as speculation about offseason roster moves begins to heat up this spring, so we'll use the space below today to provide clarity on some of those issues.
Let's dive in...
A potential Jonathan Kuminga sign-and-trade
With Warriors forward Jonathan Kuminga headed for restricted free agency this offseason after playing an inconsistent role in his fourth NBA season, there has been a good deal of speculation already about whether Golden State will attempt to recoup value for Kuminga via a sign-and-trade rather than simply re-signing him or matching a rival offer sheet.
I'm not here today to weigh the merits of one path vs. the other. I just want to examine what it would look like from a practical perspective if the Warriors do sign-and-trade Kuminga, since the base year compensation rule would come into play.
The only groups benefiting from this are the league office and non-taxpaying teams. Roster construction has long been one of the most interesting and fun aspects of the NBA and these scenarios are headache-inducing. They’re the opposite of fun.
I don’t understand why there isn’t more frustration or complaints about this convoluted and complex system. Nearly every team is significantly impacted by the new CBA restrictions. Parity driven by too many random factors undermines the meaning of a chip at a certain point because if the outcome is more a product of roster limitations than talent or teamwork it’s intrinsically less significant.
Am I just yelling at clouds? Certainly I’m not the only one who is frustrated with this system am I?
No
This system is god awful and only justifies bad franchises staying and being bad & cheap
But the other issue is that the numbers are artificially low due to unnecessary cap smoothing
Sign and trade rules
1. It is not allowed
if Kuminga has signed an offer sheet with another team.
2. it’s not allowed
if the acquiring team would be over the apron after the trade.
3. .it’s not allowed
The team receiving the player cannot have a payroll that exceeds the tax apron.
After a team matches a restricted free agent’s offer sheet, the player cannot be traded for a year.
Only 3 teams are projected to have $20 million or more in cap space for free agency
Pelicans – Want a young center
Pistons – decided to make offer for Ty Jerome
Nets – need point guards and PF
dejota, The interests of sports nerds like us aren’t on the league’s radar.
If anything I expect the CBA to get more, not less, complicated because that’s what it takes to protect the non-taxpaying teams and competitive integrity.
The gap between “haves” and “have-nots” is too great. We have an unprecedented number of teams tanking, and they are mainly small-market teams. When teams tank, games aren’t meaninful. If you have 5 teams in a conference trying to lose, like we did in the East at one point this year, that means 30% of the games being played on TV are less attractive to fans and advertisers.
IMO, the wealthy teams will continue to find creative ways around the intent of the CBA, and the league will continue to modify the CBA.
You’re right that these rules are targeted at the wealthy teams.
The net effect of the CBA seems to be working, even though its incomprehensible. The league has to protect non-
> Am I just yelling at clouds? Certainly I’m not the only one who is frustrated
> with this system am I?
As for trading Kuminga and the “base year compensation” restriction, I wouldn’t be suprised if Dunleavy puts together a multi-team deal to land a talented young big on a rookie scale contract.
There are guys like Kessler, Clingan,