The NBA Has A HUGE Money Problem...

this is the last NBA off-season as we've

come to know it there are some new rules

getting put into place next year and

we're already going to see some teams

this off season make adjustments as they

prepare for the new world of the NBA

next year and some really big potential

problems that could be created by these

new rules in free agency as well as for

the middle class of players in the NBA

now this problem that I'm going to talk

about is something we've already kind of

seen over the last few seasons as the

league implemented the super max

contract which kind of went completely

against what they wanted it to do the

initial point was to help teams retain

their star players by being able to

offer them more money if they make all

NBA teams but instead it's kind of made

it more difficult to retain those guys

because they're so expensive and guys

are reaching super max levels even

though maybe they shouldn't be earning

those levels of contracts based off how

good of players they are and that is

Shrunk the amount of money left and

available for some of these other free

agents so it's already kind of started

this problem but these new rules are

going to expedite that problem now these

new rules come into play next off season

but we are going to see some teams

cutting salary making different moves

changing their rosters in a way that

normally would it make any sense and

until you add the context of these new

rules that are getting put into place in

a year now these new rules Come From the

new CBA and the goal of them the the aim

of this was to limit these teams that

are willing to continue to spend and

spend and spend well above and beyond

the luxury tax Elite wants to spread out

the talent they don't want the talent to

be as centralized as it relates

specifically to teams being willing to

constantly spend for example the Golden

State Warriors this most recent season

they were able to have play Steph

Draymond Wiggins and Jordan pool all

guys on significant contracts putting

them way above and beyond the luxury tax

way above into this completely different

Stratosphere of spending the league is

trying to spread out that level of

talent in those level of contracts same

thing with the pre-kd trade net where

they had Kyrie they had KD and then

somehow they were also able to add James

Harden because they didn't care how much

they spent they just wanted to build the

best possible basketball team and the

league once that to stop and those two

different groups whether it be the

warriors with those five contracts or

the former Nets with those three big

contracts those kinds of things are just

not going to be possible under these new

rules okay so some quick nerdy salary

cap stuff before we move on to the rest

of the video so everybody understands

we're all on the same page the luxury

tax was put into place in the NBA to

prevent teams like this like Golden

State like Brooklyn from spending such

large amounts you have the salary cap

above that you have the luxury tax and

if you're up here that means that you

are going to have to spend more money

even above what you're already spending

at that point for example if you're

spending 150 million dollars in salary

and you're above the luxury tax whatever

amount you are above the luxury tax

you're going to be taxed dollar for

dollar and then a certain point two

dollars per dollar tax to the rest of

the teams in the league if you want to

continue to spend and spend and spend as

Golden State and formerly Brooklyn did

but the new rule the biggest thing here

in terms of the new CBA is there is

another level you have Capital luxury

sacks then you have the second level of

the luxury taxi second apron is what

it's being phrased at so it's a phrase

you're going to hear a lot and

essentially what this means is if you

hit this number up here that means that

there our penalties put in terms of of

how you're able to build your roster

those include no mid-level exception you

can't trade picks seven years out first

round picks you cannot sign buy out

players and you have to 100 salary match

when you send out players in a trade so

if you send out uh players that equal 25

million dollars in a trade you can't

take back 26 you got to take back 25 or

less and what essentially that means is

that you have to pick and choose who

your Cornerstone players are and then

fill out the rest of the roster with

minimum salary guys if you get all the

way up to this luxury tax threshold now

to kind of ground this conversation here

a little bit so we're not just so into

these little Nitty Gritty salary cap

details for example let's talk about

Boston they're going to be a team that

everybody's going to be talking about

this off season in terms of what they

want to do with Jason Tatum and Jalen

proud right let's just say that they

have next off season Jalen Brown Jason

Tatum both of them on a super max

contract okay just between those two

guys you're about the salary cap like

that's basically where you're at you

have about 40 million dollars left until

you get to the first luxury tax then for

example this year's team you have Marcus

Smart Malcolm Brogden boom you're at the

luxury tax right there you add Derek

white which is another you know 17 18

million dollars then above the luxury

tax now you're at the second apron at

that point you have those five players

Brown Tatum smart Brogden Derek white

you are at the second apron the rest of

the roster in terms of guys you are

adding and bringing in have to be

minimum salary players now the reason

that's a problem is because plenty of

teams are going to find themselves in

this situation where they're willing to

go about the luxury tax to build a

competent team because it's going to be

that much of an advantage and if you get

to this point where you're able to just

sign guys for minimum contract and

contracts and that's it there's a lot of

players around the league right now that

make between 15 20 million dollars that

fill out some of those Marcus Smart

Derek white level salaries and there's

going to be less spots for those kinds

of guys which means generally we're

going to see players that would not

normally be signing minimum salary

contracts that suddenly will be and the

reason for that is because there will be

less teams with access to their

mid-level exception which is now in the

double digits the mid-level exception is

a good contract it's you know 10 11 12

million dollars a year and maybe even a

above that moving forward over the next

couple of seasons and there's going to

be less of those available and those

kinds of players are going to be

suddenly falling into minimum salary

contract positions and why all of this

matters let's bring this full circle is

not necessarily like nobody's feeling

bad about you know middle class NBA

players going from making 15 million

dollars a year to something less than

that nobody's feeling bad about that

that's not the point the point is roster

Construction in the NBA is already after

in the super max era so focused on Stars

these stars level construction of a team

is still by far the biggest priority on

a roster and that's only going to be

increased by these new rules yes there

might be a little bit more Talent spread

out like Jordan Poole might be a

Washington Wizard instead of a Golden

State Warrior right you know Jalen Brown

might be in Houston while Boston tries

to retool and use that money in a

different way and maybe that's that

makes a league happy maybe that's what

they want but I think generally what

you're going to end up having is

something that used to happen all the

time in like the 90s where you pick your

two guys like these are our two best

players they're both going to get maxed

then we're going to fill it out with

some 10 to 15 million dollar Year guys

all the sudden where this luxury tax

threshold then we've got just minimum

contract guys and I don't know if that's

the healthiest thing for the league

because for example if you're a team

like Oklahoma City that's done a good

job of building a roster plenty of young

Talent you've got to start picking guys

like at this point you've got SGA you

got James Williams you got Josh Kitty

you know we'll see what Chet's gonna be

some of the other guys on the roster you

kind of gotta pick two maybe three of

those guys to be the core of your team

and let go of the rest simply because of

how the luxury tax threshold is going to

work and that doesn't really feel all

that fair to teams that like Oklahoma

City that have done a good job of

building their team and then at this

point oh you have too much talent you

have to spread around everyone at

everyone else that's never really how

Sports it works it's never really how

the NBA has worked in general and you're

allowed to build super teams you're

allowed to put teams together if you're

doing a good job and you have the picks

and the assets you want to go all in and

do that but now you're not only

punishing those teams in terms of oh you

did a good job drafting all these really

good players well now you've got to pick

two of them even though you might have

five really good players that work well

together you want guys that stick

together no we have to spread team

spread you know players around the teams

but also the players because they're

making less money as I mentioned earlier

to me this is a very slippery slope by

the NBA in terms of roster construction

because one of the things that I think

people are starting to enjoy more and

more about the league is yes people love

free agency they love player movement

however teams that stick together a

little bit I think are becoming a little

bit more interesting for example this

year's Denver Nuggets team Jamal Murray

Michael Porter Jr Nicola jokic yes they

brought in guys like Aaron Gordon some

other guys around the edges but the

coach and the main three guys have been

there for a couple of seasons and they

were allowed to grow and develop in this

new structure once you have Jamal Marie

Nicole jokicz they probably would not

have brought back Michael Porter Jr

despite the fact that he signed this big

Max contract he probably would have done

that elsewhere maybe they would have

been forced to trade him specifically

because of these new salary cap rules

and I don't think that further pushing

away from this like you know having

teams grow and build together at least a

few teams around the league further

pushing that away especially teams are

doing a good job of building their team

like Denver I don't think that's a

healthy thing for the league at all now

we'll have to wait and see how exactly

these new rules do affect the NBA

eventually but I think this could be a

pretty significant issue