Teams Over New 2nd Salary Cap Apron Will No Longer Have Taxpayer MLE

The NBA and NBPA have created a second salary cap apron as part of their new collective bargaining agreement.

Once a team is $17.5 million over the tax line, they will no longer have access to the taxpayer mid-level in free agency. This change will be eased into the salary cap over a period of years.

Under these changes, Golden State’s Donte DiVincenzo, Milwaukee’s Joe Ingles, Boston’s Danilo Gallinari and former Clippers guard John Wall wouldn’t have been able to sign with those teams last summer.

As a countermeasure to the second salary cap apron, there will be more spending and trade opportunities for teams at the middle and lower tiers of spending.

The league initially sought a hard cap, euphemistically called an Upper Spending Limit, which the NBPA was prepared to fight all the way to a work stoppage.