New CBA agreement

[ItsGoTime]

Seems easier to just have a hard cap, adding rules to stop owners from spending is all this is. I know the players have a problem with that, just seems the last step in this process. Get rid of all the rules and add a hard cap. Maybe a first apron before that hard cap.

[F Gump]

1  Yeah, the new CBA definitely encourages teams to draft well, develop and retain. 

2   Claxton fits that quite well.  Brooklyn has no real means to control him, so his free agency a year from now is total risk for the Nets or whichever team has him next season.  All of this puts fans in a quandary right now also.  Not only are we not sure if we have a pick or not.  With some of these new first apron restrictions a possibility this summer, we don’t have any idea what the rules of the game will be for trades and exceptions.

1  You're so right. The league is making it super-important for a team to be great at the things that Cuban has always shirked -- evaluating, drafting, and developing talent so that you have bargains on your roster. Without some sort of ongoing pipeline of players on rookie contracts, a team won't be able to afford all the talent needed to build out a complete roster of useful talent. They did a good job with Brunson and DFS, but they need to find and add one or two of those every year or two.

Expert evaluating, drafting, and developing. And also expert negotiating, for getting the right deals later on. That includes someone with the ability to do a trade that adds future picks, rather than always giving them away. Presti and Ainge and Hinkie and those like them are about to be worth their weight in gold. Until Cuban hires the guy who can do those things at an expert level, and gets out of his way, they will continue to struggle at roster building.

2 Claxton won't be under RFA control, but BKN does have full Bird rights to pay him whatever it takes, if they wish. But if we are theorizing he can be lured away with big money, do we want DAL to money-whip a center on an over-NT MLE deal? I like him as a player, but that wouldn't interest me. These guys like Claxton and Looney are valuable pieces when you're paying them in the 5-8M or so range, or on a minimum, but they shouldn't make payroll sense at over-MLE and up.

[DanSchwartzgan]

2 Claxton won't be under RFA control, but BKN does have full Bird rights to pay him whatever it takes, if they wish. But if we are theorizing he can be lured away with big money, do we want DAL to money-whip a center on an over-NT MLE deal? I like him as a player, but that wouldn't interest me. These guys like Claxton and Looney are valuable pieces when you're paying them in the 5-8M or so range, or on a minimum, but they shouldn't make payroll sense at over-MLE and up.

Brooklyn's issue isn't Bird Rights, it is a lack of protection against Claxton's UFA status.  He'll make more than they can extend him for, so he won't extend.  Brooklyn, or any team that trades for him, is going to be naked.  If he wants to leave, he leaves.  If you are Brooklyn, do you take the bird in hand or wait to get 'Brunsoned'

It would be a risk for Dallas also, but theoretically, they can at least promise more winning.  Claxton and Luka are pretty close in age, so they could be together for a very long time.  

I don't put Claxton and Looney in the same neighborhood.  Claxton is a better PnR roll man, a better defender and a better paint protector.  Out of the things needed, Looney's only advantage is rebounding where he's a 95th percentile player to Claxton's 92nd percentile.  Claxton is going to get mid teens millions a year from now.  If you look for guys who play D, rebound, block shots and either hit 3's or excel as the roll man, the list is pretty short.  Add in age and mobility and he's got to be pretty high on any list of serious upgrades.  I don't consider the guys available for $5-$8mm serious upgrades.  Just more 'trying to get by' on the cheap.

[chaparral]

Brooklyn's issue isn't Bird Rights, it is a lack of protection against Claxton's UFA status.  He'll make more than they can extend him for, so he won't extend.  Brooklyn, or any team that trades for him, is going to be naked.  If he wants to leave, he leaves.  If you are Brooklyn, do you take the bird in hand or wait to get 'Brunsoned'

It would be a risk for Dallas also, but theoretically, they can at least promise more winning.  Claxton and Luka are pretty close in age, so they could be together for a very long time.  

I don't put Claxton and Looney in the same neighborhood.  Claxton is a better PnR roll man, a better defender and a better paint protector.  Out of the things needed, Looney's only advantage is rebounding where he's a 95th percentile player to Claxton's 92nd percentile.  Claxton is going to get mid teens millions a year from now.  If you look for guys who play D, rebound, block shots and either hit 3's or excel as the roll man, the list is pretty short.  Add in age and mobility and he's got to be pretty high on any list of serious upgrades.  I don't consider the guys available for $5-$8mm serious upgrades.  Just more 'trying to get by' on the cheap.

You coined the word "Brunsoned".  How dose that play out with Claxton to the Mavs as a CAA client when he hits FA in 2024 (+ or -)?

[DanSchwartzgan]

You coined the word "Brunsoned".  How dose that play out with Claxton to the Mavs as a CAA client when he hits FA in 2024 (+ or -)?

Yeah, that could be a problem.  It is hard to know how much bad blood there is and between whom.  Is it a Dallas/Agency issue?  A Dallas/Knick issue? (absolutely)  It felt like Cuban tried really hard to contain his usual pettiness (or maybe it was more Nico trying to keep Cuban from his own natural instincts).  But you can’t stop Cubes.  You can only hope to contain him.

[F Gump]

Significant change mentioned that I hadn't seen before....

A team's MLE can now be a trade tool, usable as a Trade Exception. I think this will make a huge difference, as every team now potentially has about a 12M TE to start the offseason, making player movement much easier.

[Jym]

Significant change mentioned that I hadn't seen before....

A team's MLE can now be a trade tool, usable as a Trade Exception. I think this will make a huge difference, as every team now potentially has about a 12M TE to start the offseason, making player movement much easier.

One of the best new rules they've put into place in a long time 
Now they just need to make extensions easier to put together. Makes zero sense that the max in-season extension for say Brunson was only around 14 million a year. I get there being a limit but it shouldn't be nearly as restrictive. It'd also be cool to see contracts being easier to renegotiate

[DanSchwartzgan]

One of the best new rules they've put into place in a long time 
Now they just need to make extensions easier to put together. Makes zero sense that the max in-season extension for say Brunson was only around 14 million a year. I get there being a limit but it shouldn't be nearly as restrictive. It'd also be cool to see contracts being easier to renegotiate

They did make an improvement on that.  Max bump for non-max extensions is now 40%.  It doesn’t solve every situation, but it fixes some of the cases that existed before.

[DanSchwartzgan]

Significant change mentioned that I hadn't seen before....

A team's MLE can now be a trade tool, usable as a Trade Exception. I think this will make a huge difference, as every team now potentially has about a 12M TE to start the offseason, making player movement much easier.

Interesting.  They’ve taken away trade flexibility in certain places, so they needed to replace it elsewhere.  Dynasties are going to be tougher to maintain and parody seems like it is being promoted.

I heard an interesting theory today.  With the aggregation limits, some teams will use their own free agents as living Trade Exceptions.  In other words, some players may get a nice pay day specifically to be used in a trade.  Big spenders aren’t limited in what they can pay their own players yet.  If they can’t aggregate multiple players up or down, they can set a salary for someone they have at just the right number to get someone they want from another team.

[IamDougieFresh]

I really appreciate the work you guys put in to understand the CBA so that I don't have to.

[SleepingHero]

[ballsrchr]

I really appreciate the work you guys put in to understand the CBA so that I don't have to.

I'm in the same boat you are.   I don't have the time or desire to dive deep into some of this stuff.  But I also appreciate all the fine, informative posts.

I'm just a die hard homer fan--a driveway point guard.

---it was a big driveway---

[DanSchwartzgan]

Thank You!  Where was that?  The AFTER part is substantial.

[SleepingHero]

Thank You!  Where was that?  The AFTER part is substantial.

https://twitter.com/rcon14/status/165888...64772?s=20

^ This guy summarized Larry Coon's notes on the Dunc'd on podcast. My bad as I thought I included the tweet as well when I posted the picture (just to save everyone a click).

The after 23-24 season also stood out to me. Basically 1 year before capped out teams are handicapped. Might make for a bunch of motivated sellers this offseason...

It also kinds of points me to the Mavs thinking. They traded the 2029 pick which was 7 years out at the time and we all questioned why. Cubes probably knew this rule was going into effect and also figured that the Mavs are going to be spending so much so that the 2029 pick would have likely been frozen after next season.

[MarkAguirreWrathofGod]

God, I hope that this isn’t representative of Cuban’s reading of the new CBA. It would be the exact opposite of the desired takeaway. It would be more of his “zig when they zag” method that worked SO WELL after the last CBA. 

Wouldn’t it carry past 2029 anyway though if it takes effect after next season?

[SleepingHero]

God, I hope that this isn’t representative of Cuban’s reading of the new CBA. It would be the exact opposite of the desired takeaway. It would be more of his “zig when they zag” method that worked SO WELL after the last CBA. 

Wouldn’t it carry past 2029 anyway though if it takes effect after next season?

I assume Cuban's thinking is "if we're over the cap and the 2030 pick is frozen, might as well trade 29 first before we can't trade it either"

I don't know. Cubes is a dolt.

[F Gump]

From a personal source, found some previously unreported CBA changes that I think will make a noticeable difference:
1 No teams will carry massive cap room through a season. The charge for being under minimum salary will be assessed on Day 1 of regular season, and be paid to the NBA. Then the team's cap will be changed to the minimum team salary. During the season, they can't do any transaction that would lower their team salary below minimum team salary. And teams who have to pay the charge for being under the minimum do NOT qualify for a share of distribution of tax money.
2 There are significant hits to team flexibility by being over over the FIRST apron. In a trade, they get 110% matching for 2023-24 season, but then it's 100% (no multiplier) in future years. Everyone else gets 200% rather than the prior 175% (NOTE - that is limited by the $5M spread as before, except it's been increased to 7.5M and will now inflate with future cap growth). Also the TxMLE cannot be used as a TE for trades and waiver claims (other annual exceptions can).
...ETA - teams who make a trade after a season (May-June) that is not allowed when you exceed 1st apron (or 2nd apron also) will be hard capped for the ensuing season by the applicable apron.
3 All TE's will expire at the end of each regular season. So in summer free agency starting in 2024, the only TEs will be those generated from deals in that June or July.

[omahen]

From a personal source, found some previously unreported CBA changes that I think will make a noticeable difference:
1 No teams will carry massive cap room through a season. The charge for being under minimum salary will be assessed on Day 1 of regular season, and be paid to the NBA. Then the team's cap will be changed to the minimum team salary. During the season, they can't do any transaction that would lower their team salary below minimum team salary. And teams who have to pay the charge for being under the minimum do NOT qualify for a share of distribution of tax money.
2 There are significant hits to team flexibility by being over over the FIRST apron. In a trade, they get 110% matching for 2023-24 season, but then it's 100% (no multiplier) in future years. Everyone else gets 200% rather than the prior 175% (not sure if that's limited by the $5M spread as before, but maybe the $5M limit is now gone?). Also the TxMLE cannot be used as a TE for trades and waiver claims (other annual exceptions can).
3 All TE's will expire at the end of each regular season. So in summer free agency starting in 2024, the only TEs will be those generated from deals in that June or July.

Does number one apply this season or next one. By "this" I mean season starting in July

[F Gump]

Does number one apply this season or next one. By "this" I mean season starting in July

The new Minimum Team Salary rules will be fully in force for 2023-24, with one minor exception. For the 2023-24 season only, a team under the minimum team salary on day 1 will be eligible for ONE HALF of a share of tax receipts, rather than zero.

(Per the summarized notes I was given access to, which were written by NBA)

[DanSchwartzgan]

From a personal source, found some previously unreported CBA changes that I think will make a noticeable difference:
1 No teams will carry massive cap room through a season. The charge for being under minimum salary will be assessed on Day 1 of regular season, and be paid to the NBA. Then the team's cap will be changed to the minimum team salary. During the season, they can't do any transaction that would lower their team salary below minimum team salary. And teams who have to pay the charge for being under the minimum do NOT qualify for a share of distribution of tax money.
2 There are significant hits to team flexibility by being over over the FIRST apron. In a trade, they get 110% matching for 2023-24 season, but then it's 100% (no multiplier) in future years. Everyone else gets 200% rather than the prior 175% (not sure if that's limited by the $5M spread as before, but maybe the $5M limit is now gone?). Also the TxMLE cannot be used as a TE for trades and waiver claims (other annual exceptions can).
...ETA - teams who make a trade after a season (May-June) that is not allowed when you exceed 1st apron (or 2nd apron also) will be hard capped for the ensuing season by the applicable apron.
3 All TE's will expire at the end of each regular season. So in summer free agency starting in 2024, the only TEs will be those generated from deals in that June or July.

Thanks for this.

I think some of what we do/don't do (and when) will depend on these details.  Same thing for figuring out what teams way under the minimum will do.