The very second apron that paved the way for their title seeks to destroy the Knicks

Sports are cyclical. It’s very rare for a team to stay on top for a prolonged period of time, just the same as it’s rare for a team to stay in the doldrums for a long time. Smart organizations can keep championship windows open, and dumb organizations can keep shooting themselves in the foot, but in every sport, the bill eventually comes due.

The second apron, an invention of the latest CBA, has been the NBA’s attempt to speed up the cycle. They don’t want teams like the Warriors spending five years at the top of the sport with their all-time collection of talent. They want championship windows to be shorter, but also more volatile. It’s like a conveyor belt; they want these teams to all get a taste of glory before going back to the hunt.

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As the current NBA champions, the Knicks are the latest team to fight a battle with the second apron. James Dolan says he does not want to exceed it, something that very few teams have done since it was introduced. They find themselves with a core that wants to be compensated as champions, but have a finite amount of money to get there.

It’s easy to curse the second apron for what they’re doing to muddy up the Knicks’ title defense and beyond, but in doing that, we have to remember that the construction and reason behind this team even reaching the mountaintop was the second apron.

The Minnesota Timberwolves were coming off a trip to the Western Conference Finals, but faced a massive crisis entering the 2024-25 season with their financial table. Some players needed extensions, some players had massive raises kicking in, and they were doomed to spend the season above the second apron. You can spend one year there and survive, but doing two or more years there is a death sentence. Hence, they needed to shed long-term salary.

That’s how Karl-Anthony Towns became a Knick.

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The Boston Celtics were the type of unstoppable superteam that the league looked to avoid in 2023-24, boasting a starting five full of players who could create their own shot and hold their own defensively, an extremely rare blend. All of that was bolstered by an elite coach who maximized…

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Publish date : 2026-10-06 16:45:00

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