This CBA sucks

[Froob]

Yeah I know obviously a celtics fan,

but why is it so hard to cut money even when you're trying to do the "right" thing? They should just make the second apron essentially a hard cap and you can spend up to it how you wish. From what I read, they even made it so you can't trade a guaranteed contract for a non guaranteed contract over the apron, why are they trying to lock you into the apron?

Honestly don't know anyone who enjoy this CBA. It kind of took a lot of fun out of trades and even killed the buy out market which was 99% hype and 1% production (almost always somebody washed up who makes zero impact).

[Hornet Mania]

I actually believe Silver and the owners set the CBA up intentionally to make a hard cap a more palatable choice in the future. Obviously the second apron penalties are too punitive, they cannot be overcome even with excellent management. It's designed to be a cautionary tale starring the first few victims and little else.

(tinfoil off)

[Backcountry]

So what exactly are you calling the "right thing"?

[G R E Y]

I actually believe Silver and the owners set the CBA up intentionally to make a hard cap a more palatable choice in the future. Obviously the second apron penalties are too punitive, they cannot be overcome even with excellent management. It's designed to be a cautionary tale starring the first few victims and little else.

(tinfoil off)

Bingo.

[life_saver]

This CBA increases importance of having good GMs who can find value in margins. Another change I am expecting is that teams will be extremely hesitant giving supermax contract unless someone is close to a top10 player.

[Backcountry]

I actually believe Silver and the owners set the CBA up intentionally to make a hard cap a more palatable choice in the future. Obviously the second apron penalties are too punitive, they cannot be overcome even with excellent management. It's designed to be a cautionary tale starring the first few victims and little else.

(tinfoil off)

Bingo.

Partially. I think a hard cap is what they wanted, but the union refused. So this was the compromise. But why would the players ever want to change it? Look what it's done for salaries. There will always be owners with pockets so deep they'll be more interested in buying a championship than fiscal responsibility. And it will continue to hurt the smaller market teams. I'm glad this year's final four is mainly the "little guys", but I'm interested to see how well the eventual winner can keep it together.

[TravisScott55]

blame cheap owners

[JayMKE]

Yeah it definitely does, teams shouldn’t be punished for paying their own guys and building a team the right way.

[AleksandarN]

Yeah I know obviously a celtics fan,

but why is it so hard to cut money even when you're trying to do the "right" thing? They should just make the second apron essentially a hard cap and you can spend up to it how you wish. From what I read, they even made it so you can't trade a guaranteed contract for a non guaranteed contract over the apron, why are they trying to lock you into the apron?

Honestly don't know anyone who enjoy this CBA. It kind of took a lot of fun out of trades and even killed the buy out market which was 99% hype and 1% production (almost always somebody washed up who makes zero impact).

Signed Nuggets fans

[LakersSoul]

Yeah I know obviously a celtics fan,

but why is it so hard to cut money even when you're trying to do the "right" thing? They should just make the second apron essentially a hard cap and you can spend up to it how you wish. From what I read, they even made it so you can't trade a guaranteed contract for a non guaranteed contract over the apron, why are they trying to lock you into the apron?

Honestly don't know anyone who enjoy this CBA. It kind of took a lot of fun out of trades and even killed the buy out market which was 99% hype and 1% production (almost always somebody washed up who makes zero impact).

NBA punishing teams that want to field the best team while providing benefits for teams fielding an non-competitive team is going to slowly kill the league.

[Mr Puddles]

The dumbest rule IMO is the fact that you can't combine salaries when you're a second apron team. The CBA literally makes it extra difficult for teams to get out of apron hell by not allowing them to attach a good contract to a bad one to move, or combining salaries to make the numbers work.

[Calamity_Cometh]

Yeah I know obviously a celtics fan,

but why is it so hard to cut money even when you're trying to do the "right" thing? They should just make the second apron essentially a hard cap and you can spend up to it how you wish. From what I read, they even made it so you can't trade a guaranteed contract for a non guaranteed contract over the apron, why are they trying to lock you into the apron?

Honestly don't know anyone who enjoy this CBA. It kind of took a lot of fun out of trades and even killed the buy out market which was 99% hype and 1% production (almost always somebody washed up who makes zero impact).

Signed Nuggets fans

Hear, hear.

Suns fan.

[BruttoNostra]

I love the new CBA, it requires much more than simply giving out large contracts left and right, when even if you end up with a meh player, you simply trade him as a salary filler with a couple of picks for a starter-level contributor on the same large contract.

- Drafting an older, but ready to contribute player in the 2nd round / end of the 1st round might become a must for many teams (on 3-4 years minimum or low AAV contract)
- Giving out 25M+ AAV contract (or adjust it to whatever % of the cap) to a meh player not sniffing being one of top-50 players in the league should become a rare occasion.
- Much less players should get max or near-max salaries. I'm not talking about Luka - I'm talking about the likes of Garland (no offense, Cavs fans), Lavine etc

[Froob]

So what exactly are you calling the "right thing"?

they want you to cut salary by design but they don’t give you any way to actually do it

[dhsilv2]

blame cheap owners

This doesn't do anything for that. Owners have a set spend as a group...

[dhsilv2]

So what exactly are you calling the "right thing"?

they want you to cut salary by design but they don’t give you any way to actually do it

Don't over pay for players or give contracts that are too long.

They are getting exactly what they wanted. Look at who's left in the playoffs. This is the NBA's dream.

[lethalizer]

"People being have to be good at their job instead of paying their way out of their mistakes is a very bad thing"

is basically what you guys are saying.

Also it's hilarious that this thread has already backing from Phoenix and Denver fans.

Sure, your GM paying Saric and Zeke Nnaji a combined 14 million$ in the year of 2025 is not the problem, the CBA is the problem.

Same goes for Phoenix and their brilliant owner thinking Bradley Beal would be a great fit with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, and CHOOSING to trade for a contract that ends in 2027 while him making 50 milion+ in each season.

[Froob]

"People being have to be good at their job instead of paying their way out of their mistakes is a very bad thing"

is basically what you guys are saying.

Also it's hilarious that this thread has already backing from Phoenix and Denver fans.

Sure, your GM paying Saric and Zeke Nnaji a combined 14 million$ in the year of 2025 is not the problem, the CBA is the problem.

Same goes for Phoenix and their brilliant owner thinking Bradley Beal would be a great fit with Kevin Durant and Devin Booker, and CHOOSING to trade for a contract that ends in 2027 while him making 50 milion+ in each season.

would it really be a crime if we could trade jrue for fvv and then get to waive him? I don’t think it’s necessary for matching rules to be this crazy.

We’re not asking for like an amnesty clause, asking for ways so you can actually make trades and cut salary if you need to and send picks if necessary but they made that extremely hard to do.

[Jadoogar]

Isn't this what we wanted? 7 different champions over the last 7 years. The CBA has made super teams next to impossible.
I understand where Celtics' fans are coming from because their main players were drafted by the team but in the grand scheme of things, i would prefer the parity we have now to the KD-warriors or Heatles era.

[KOA]

The Celtics completely mismanaged their payroll. That's not the NBA's fault.

Why did they sign a 34 year old J-Rue Holiday to a ridiculous contract? Who else was going to offer him anything remotely close? They could have signed a vet to fill that role and provide slightly less production at a literal fraction of the cost.

Similarly for other players/contracts, I have no idea why they didn't use declining contracts rather than escalations to more effectively manage their payroll. That's 100% on the GM.

Lastly, one-dimensional players like Sam Hauser should not be getting $10MM/year on a team strapped for cash. You can get one-dimensional players at vet minimum contract or even rookie contracts.

I don't have any sympathy for the situation because they knew the impact of the new CBA well in advance of some of their financial decisions.