NBA salary cap second apron

Windhorst predicts that within a couple of years some NBA contracts will include $80 million seasons.

“There will be players in the next couple of years where there will be years on their contract where it's $80 million”

Pardon My Take: NBA Free Agency With Brian Windhorst, World Cup, Balogun's Red Card Suspended And People Are Big Mad At The US, Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce Wedding + Mt Rushmore Of Weapons (Jul 6, 2026) · Listen from 1:44:35

Windhorst says teams treat the second apron like a hard cap.

“the second apron is the way the teams are acting. they're acting like it's a hard cap. Nobody has been in it two consecutive years”

Pardon My Take: NBA Free Agency With Brian Windhorst, World Cup, Balogun's Red Card Suspended And People Are Big Mad At The US, Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce Wedding + Mt Rushmore Of Weapons (Jul 6, 2026) · Listen from 1:44:48

House argued the CBA negotiators badly miscalculated future cap growth when introducing the second apron.

“They fucked up how much money is going to be available year over year”

The Bill Simmons Podcast: Kawhi in Flux, Embiid’s Next Team, Jaylen vs. Advanced Numbers, and a Mini-Mailbag With Joe House (Jul 9, 2026) · Listen from 56:36

Dan Katz argues the NBA is strongest with dynasties, which the second apron discourages.

“I think the NBA has been the strongest when there has been dynasties and you have those storylines”

Pardon My Take: NBA Free Agency With Brian Windhorst, World Cup, Balogun's Red Card Suspended And People Are Big Mad At The US, Taylor Swift/Travis Kelce Wedding + Mt Rushmore Of Weapons (Jul 6, 2026) · Listen from 1:42:48

Lowe notes second-apron restrictions will make trades very hard for the Thunder.

“The restrictions of the second apron are real and make it very hard for the Thunder to make trades because they can't aggregate salaries”

The Bill Simmons Podcast: Down Goes OKC! Spurs-Knicks is Here! What the Hell Just Happened? And What Does OKC Do Now? | With Zach Lowe (May 31, 2026) · Listen from 51:15