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San Antonio Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama inked a five-year extension reportedly worth $252 million that hit the proverbial newsstands on Friday hours after he hinted at a hometown discount with a brief social media post that reads, “Spurs family, I’m here to stay. Whatever it takes.”
The same day the 22-year-old French wunderkind made a contract sacrifice — reportedly opting for a 25% maximum instead of the 30% supermax, thereby giving San Antonio more salary cap flexibility to refine its championship-contending roster — National Basketball Players Association executive director David Kelly voiced the NBPA’s frustration with the league’s “second apron.”
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The second apron is a financial threshold for front offices. More specifically, it’s a limit to how much a team can spend above the NBA’s soft salary cap and luxury tax line without facing the highest level of penalties. Kelly believes it must be “softened” or removed, as reported by ESPN.
“We are not fans of the second apron,” Kelly said on Friday, speaking for the NBPA, per ESPN. “We did not propose the second apron. We should have done a better job of fighting back against the second apron. In the future, we will have a much more unified union, and we will do a better job of fighting back.
“ … We’re seeing [the apron system] decimate teams and force decisions to be made that are not basketball decisions.”
In June, after the New York Knicks won their first NBA championship in 53 years, owner James Dolan made it clear he wouldn’t put the franchise in the second apron, even calling a decision to do so “suicidal” during an appearance on New York’s WFAN. Amid that segment, he noted that the Knicks were “willing to stretch” to keep the band together; however, he drew a line in the sand.
“I’ll write as big of a check as possible, but I can’t write a check that goes into the second apron.”
Weeks later, the Knicks let offensive rebound magnet — err, backup center — Mitchell Robinson walk in free agency. Robinson, a franchise mainstay and invaluable role player in the Knicks’ title-drought ending playoff…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nba/article/nbpa-airs-grievances-about-second-apron-same-day-spurs-superstar-victor-wembanyama-reportedly-makes-contract-sacrifice-205325949.html
Author : Andy Backstrom
Publish date : 2026-07-11 20:53:00
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