13 Rules: Random NBA Thoughts – Clippers Drama, Ben Simmons’ Future, and the Second Apron Problem

Make sure to listen and add the 13 Rules: NBA Random Thoughts podcast to your list! This week Steve shares his thoughts on the most interesting Western Conference teams after a wild NBA Offseason.

13 Rules: Clippers Drama

• The Los Angeles Clippers, Kawhi Leonard, and Steve Ballmer mess is interesting. If the Clippers and Steve Ballmer knew what they were doing, the pressure is then on the NBA and Adam Silver. They have to penalize the owner in a way that ensures it doesn’t happen again. Go back and see the penalties Silver gave the LA Clippers and Phoenix Suns. Both owners were forced to sell their teams. If guilty, would Silver do that to the Clippers? Steve Ballmer is one of the reasons there is a second apron. His wealth worries owners because of his ability to go into the tax and have no problem paying it.

13 Rules: Random NBA Thoughts

• Ben Simmons is talking about retirement. As his career unfolded, it appeared he was sticking around for the money, constantly injured and missing games. In the last three years, he has played in 108 games out of a possible 246. Now that his contract is up, he doesn’t know if he wants to play. The incident that changed his career was when he decided to pass to a teammate instead of shooting a layup and possibly getting fouled late in a close playoff game against Atlanta. From that point on, he was always reluctant to shoot and afraid to go to the foul line.
• The NBA has a problem with Restricted Free Agency. Restricted free agency is what happens to a player who has not re-signed with his team after four years in the league. This year Cam Thomas, Jonathan Kuminga, Quentin Grimes, and Josh Giddey have that problem. Remember, the team they play for can match any deal made with another team. So teams choose to let the player look for another deal before deciding if they want to match it. In theory, it looks okay, but the other teams in the league are reluctant to offer, leaving the player with few, if any, choices. If he has no offers, he can either re-sign with his team for less than he hoped for or play for this year’s rate of 6 million and become a free agent at the end of the season. The player will play for much less than his worth.

13 Rules: Second Apron

• I’ve written so often about the dreaded second apron, so this week I’ll try to explain why teams don’t want to get in that position. This year the second apron starts at $207.8 million. Teams’ total player salaries that exceed that amount are in the second apron. When you are there, your team is badly restricted. Among the penalties are:
  • You can only trade one player in a deal, and the salaries coming back must total less than the player you traded.
  • You cannot include cash in any trades you make.
  • Your first-round draft pick in seven years is frozen. If that team is in the second apron for three out of the next five years, the pick becomes the last one in the first round.
  • You lose what is called the mid-level exception. This means you can’t sign a free agent for what would be 14.104 million next year. That is if you are under the tax. If you are at the first apron, you are paying tax, and you can only sign a player for up to $5.685 million.
  • You cannot acquire a player through a sign-and-trade.
  • You cannot sign a player waived or bought out if his salary is above a certain level.
• As for the amount a team pays when they are in the tax, they pay more with each year they are in it. So the longer you are above the cap, the more you pay. By the way, half the money teams are taxed is evenly distributed to teams under the tax. If you are a small-market team, it almost pays to stay under the cap because you will make money from the teams over the cap. Next year it is projected to be $11.5 million paid out to each team under the tax.