NBA
What is the second apron in the NBA? What teams are in it in the 2024-25 season?
The second apron is a new NBA financial ruling that punishes teams that spend above the established threshold.
Unlike other major US sports, NFL, MLS and NHL, there’s no hard salary cap for NBA teams and we have seen teams spending season by season over the “soft” cap limitations.
The NBA also established a ‘luxury tax’ system to punish teams that go too far over the cap, and a repeater tax designed to punish teams that exceed the tax threshold (approximately 121.5% of the salary cap) in three out of four years. The further you go into the tax and the more often you do so, you pay an increasingly higher penalty on every dollar spent.
In the 2023-24 season, the Golden State Warriors ended up paying nearly $175 million in luxury tax payments despite being “only” $42.5 million above the threshold.
There are also various exceptions teams can use to sign players, depending on whether they are taxpayers, non-taxpayers over the cap, or have room under the salary cap.
Under the old Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), teams that used certain exceptions or acquired a player via sign-and-trade were hard-capped at a number called “the apron.” The new CBA has two aprons.
First and second ‘aprons’
NBA salary cap, luxury tax, first apron and second apron in 2024-25
Salary cap: $140.5 million
Luxury tax: $170.8 million
First apron: $178.1 million
Second apron: $188.9 million
The salary cap is the amount of money that each team has available to spend on their roster. When a team spends below the cap, they create space so they can then spend on free agents.
Teams are trying to avoid the second apron, which is $17.5 million above the luxury tax (currently set at $165 million for the 24-25 season).
Previously, teams would only have additional fiscal responsibilities owed if they crossed into the luxury tax threshold. However, soon teams will also have on-court consequences for spending more than other teams.
Teams can go over the salary cap but try to stay under the luxury tax line, as that is when the penalties kick in.
Some teams have an owner who is willing to shell out any amount of money necessary to compete, such as Mat Ishbia and the Suns and Wyc Grousbeck and the Boston Celtics, who are the reigning NBA champions and have a payroll of $199 million.
Phoenix Suns, Minnesota Timberwolves, Boston Celtics, and Milwaukee Bucks are currently projected to be second-apron teams in 2024-25.