Breaking down the cap situation for the league, and where the Hornets stand

With the 2025 offseason approaching, fans start to look at the cap space of their teams to determine what they will be able to spend over the summer.

For fans of the Boston Celtics or Phoenix Suns, it's a far more difficult world. Navigating through the league's second apron is going to be one of the hardest tasks for general managers across the league for several years.

Several people might be asking, though: what is the second apron? What is the first apron? Let's discuss.

First apron restrictions

The first apron, which already includes six teams for 2025-26, sets several restrictions for teams in it. For the 2024-25 season, it was set at $178.1 million. The restrictions of triggering the first apron include:

Sign and trade acquisitions: Teams above the first apron cannot acquire players through a sign and trade if it keeps them above the apron.

Salary matching in trades: They can only match salaries within 110% of the outgoing salary in trades, while teams that are below the apron can use 125%.

Signing waived players: Teams above the apron cannot sign players that were waived or bought out during the regular season, if said players were earning more than the $12.8 million midlevel exception.

Second apron restrictions

The second apron, which includes three of the previous seven teams, results in severely worse restrictions for the teams in it. For the 2024-25 season, it was set at $188.9 million. The restrictions of triggering the second apron include:

Trading players: Teams cannot aggregate contracts in trades, trade multiple players in one deal, or send out any cash. They can trade one player for two or more players, but cannot trade two players for one.

Trading draft picks: Teams cannot trade draft picks that are seven years into the future.

Free agency: Teams cannot use the mid-level exception or sign players who have been bought out by another team.

So, where are the Charlotte Hornets in regards to the NBA's cap situations?

The Hornets are currently 24th in cap spending for 2025-26 at $155.2 million. They are $44.7 million below the first apron, and $56.6 million below the second apron. In short, they are in an enviable position to be able to make shrewd signings, acquire extra draft capital in deals to take on negative salary, and make trades in general.

A team like Boston, Minnesota, or Phoenix could be calling Jeff Peterson's phone number to take on some of their larger salaries and extra draft capital in exchange for some players making lesser money.

As it stands, the Hornets are projected to have the seventh fewest dollars allocated to 2025-26 salary in the league, trailing Brooklyn, Chicago, and Detroit, among others. They have $183.7 million in allocated money, putting them $29.05 million over the salary cap. Their first round pick (4th overall) is also projected to make $10.015 million on his rookie scale deal, increasing the allocated money they have.

Free agency makes things a bit tricky. Since the Hornets do not have any cap space, they are unable to offer outside free agents anything other the non-taxpayer MLE, projected around $14 million a year, and the bi-annual exception, projected around $3.3 million a year.

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