AROUND the NBA: Pat Bev Suspended 4 Games Next Season| PHX Fires Vogel

[DallasMaverick]

I read if an owner wants to pay, this may be a route to maintain at least some flexibility to improve their team.  Have guys in the 10-20 million range who you can use as salary matches.  Not sure anyone is going to trip over themselves for that Allen contract though.  Plus, an owner may grow real tired playing a 100 million on taxes if they don’t reach the conference finals.

Suns did pretty well in that trade imo.   I am not a Nurkic fan, but he has been solid this year.   They also got Allen.  Allen has been solid as well.  They also picked up Little and Keon Johnson.  Nassir Little was an interesting gamble.   He is still young, but just hasn't proven to be a rotation NBA player yet.    While nothing special for a return with Ayton, they got solid players back.

Just a reminder about roster-building limitations of going above the cap:

What are the penalties for the first apron?

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: 
No access to the $5 million taxpayer midlevel exception
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.