Bruce Brown is a solid eight-year NBA veteran who played 82 games for Denver last season but was squeezed this offseason and signed an Exhibit 9, non-guaranteed training camp contract with the Knicks (hoping to make their roster). He vented to New York reporters about the NBA’s salary constraints and their impact (quote via Ian Begley of SNY.tv).
“The new CBA is good for certain players, right? Max guys, top free agents and maybe rookie extension guys. But other than that, like the middle guys, it kind of sucks for us. As you see, there’s not that many people getting that full mid-level (exception) anymore – or even the tax mid-level (exception). It’s tough, but that’s just the way it is right now. So each time you’re out there, you’ve just got to play your best and hope for the best.”
Friday, the NBA officially pushed back on that narrative.
Recent reports asserted that the second apron is hurting “lower” and “middle” class players. That’s untrue. Since the implementation of the second apron, the number of players on team rosters has remained the same and annual salaries have increased by nearly $1.3 billion…
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) October 9, 2026
The NBA’s point is that the water level remains the same: There are 450 NBA roster spots and the players will get 50% (roughly) of the NBA’s Basketball Related Income. It’s not just the middle class getting squeezed, under the old NBA CBA, the Pistons’ Jalen Duren would have been a no-question max contract (maybe the 25% max, but a lot). Instead, he and the Pistons got into a protracted contract extension negotiation and took $76 million less than his max (at five years, $200 million).
As happens a lot with Adam Silver’s NBA, it is lawyerly correct on the facts but can miss the bigger picture, the spirit of what the Second Apron does.
Where the second apron is hurting the league is fundamental — it’s eroding fan trust and loyalty. Detroit fans want to believe in a 22-year-old All-NBA center like Duren, not worry he might bolt because the team has to play hardball to build a contender in the apron era. Knicks fans have gone from celebrating their first title in 53 years to watching New York need to lowball Karl-Anthony Towns because keeping a championship team together and below the second apron is near impossible. Fans in Boston watched the Celtics draft and develop Jaylen Brown, a guy who won a title there, who was committed to the community and invested there, but who the Celtics had to trade in hopes of retooling under the second apron around Jayson Tatum. Oklahoma City had to start losing role players to keep its core together and that’s going to get worse in future years. Already people around the league are talking about if/when San Antonio might have to trade De’Aaron Fox to keep its core of Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper together.
If these fans — especially younger ones, where the league already struggles to keep engaged and watching full games — start to question their loyalty, that cuts at the foundation of the league in a way NBA Europe money can’t replace.
But yes, the NBA players are still getting the same pool of money that they did before, and that pool is getting bigger.
