Hoops Rumors Originals

If an NBA team’s salary continues to rise after it surpasses both the salary cap and the luxury tax line, it may reach or exceed a pair of tax “aprons.” The level of the first tax apron is several million dollars above the threshold at which a team becomes a taxpayer, while the second tax apron is another $10MM+ beyond the first apron.

A team whose salary exceeds the first apron is prohibited from making certain moves during that league year, while a team whose salary goes beyond the second apron faces even more restrictions. The goal is to limit the ability of the teams with the NBA’s highest payrolls to further upgrade their rosters and to encourage competitive balance.

Although the tax apron isn’t a new addition to the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement, the 2023 CBA represents the first time that the league’s cap system features multiple aprons. The 2023 CBA also introduced several new rules that apply to teams whose salaries are above one or both aprons.

Let’s dive in and break down the tax aprons in greater detail…

How are the tax aprons calculated?

The formula that determined the level of the first tax apron in 2023/24 was as follows:

• Formula: $165,294,000 + ($6,716,000 x $129,838,000 / $123,655,000)
• Result: $172,346,000
  • Note: The result was rounded to the nearest thousand.

These may just look on the surface like a collection of random numbers, but there’s a method to the madness. $165,294,000 is this season’s luxury tax line, while $6,716,000 was the gap between the tax line and the apron in 2022/23. $129,838,000 is the average of this season’s and last season’s salary caps, while $123,655,000 was the amount of last season’s salary cap.

More simply put: The gap between the tax level and the apron was calculated by taking last season’s gap and increasing it by a percentage representing half of this season’s cap increase. The cap rose by 10% this past summer; this year’s difference of $7,052,000 between the tax threshold and the first apron is 5% more than last year’s difference of $6,716,000.

Going forward, the first tax apron will increase at the same rate as the salary cap, making the calculation a little simpler. The formula will be as follows:

• $172,346,000 x (salary cap for that season / $136,021,000)

For instance, if the salary cap for 2024/25 comes in at $145,000,000, the first tax apron would be $183,723,000.

The calculation of the second tax apron, newly created for the 2023/24 season, was much more straightforward — it was simply a matter of adding $17.5MM to this season’s tax line, so the second apron came in at $182,794,000.

Like the first apron, the second apron will rise at the same rate of the cap in future seasons, meaning the formula will be as follows:

• $182,794,000 x (salary cap for that season / $136,021,000)

If we use that same example as above of a $145,000,000 cap for 2024/25, the second apron would come in at $194,861,000 next season.

What restrictions does a team face if its salary is above the first tax apron but below the second apron?

The restrictions facing teams above the first tax apron are different in 2023/24 than they will be in future seasons, since the NBA wanted to phase in those rules gradually rather than implementing them all at once. Rolling out the changes over a couple seasons gives teams the opportunity to adjust their rosters to account for the new apron-related rules.

Here are the moves that a team whose salary is above the first tax apron – but below the second apron – is prohibited from making in 2023/24:

1. Acquiring a player via sign-and-trade.
2. Using any portion of the bi-annual exception.
3. Using more than the taxpayer portion (up to two years, with a starting salary of $5MM) of the mid-level exception.
4. Signing a player who was waived during the current season if his pre-waiver salary for 2023/24 exceeded the amount of the non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($12,405,000).
5. Taking back more than 110% of the salary it sends out in a trade (when over the cap).

The first four limitations on this list will remain in place in future seasons. The fifth will be modified to become even more restrictive.

Here are the additional moves that teams above the first apron – but below the second apron – will be ineligible to make beginning after the last day of the 2023/24 regular season:

1. Taking back more than 100% of the salary it sends out in a trade (when over the cap).
2. Using a traded player exception generated during the prior year (ie. between the end of the previous regular season and the end of the most recent regular season).

To clarify that second point, let’s say a team above the first apron currently has one trade exception worth $5MM, then generates another one worth $8MM at the 2024 trade deadline in February. Both of those exceptions would become unavailable once the team’s 2024 offseason begins.

That club could subsequently make a draft-night deal that generates a new $7MM TPE and use that exception at any point between its creation and the end of the 2024/25 regular season. But that TPE would once again become unavailable once the team’s 2025 offseason begins, prior to the typical one year expiration date.

What restrictions does a team face if its salary is above the second tax apron?

A team whose salary is above the second tax apron is prohibited from making any of the moves outlined above that are unavailable to teams above the first apron. That includes acquiring a player via sign-and-trade, using any portion of the bi-annual exception, and so on.

In 2023/24, a team above the second apron is also forbidden from using any portion of the mid-level exception.

Additional restrictions will be implemented beginning in 2024. Here are the moves that teams above the second tax apron won’t be permitted to make beginning after the last day of the 2023/24 regular season:

1. Using any portion of the mid-level exception.
2. Aggregating two or more player salaries in a trade.
3. Sending out cash as part of a trade.
4. Acquiring a player using a traded player exception if that TPE was created by sending out a player via sign-and-trade.
   • Note: This includes taking back salary in the same transaction in which a player is sent out via sign-and-trade.

Teams above the second tax apron will face one more draft-related restriction beginning in the 2024/25 league year. If the team’s salary exceeds the second apron, its first-round pick in the draft seven years away will be frozen, making it ineligible to be traded.

If the team’s salary exceeds the second apron in at least two of the following four seasons (three of five in total), the frozen pick would move to the end of the first round for that draft. Conversely, if the team stays below the second apron for at least three of the subsequent four seasons, its pick becomes “unfrozen” and is once again tradable.

For instance, let’s say the Clippers finish the 2024/25 league year above the second tax apron. That would result in their 2032 first-round pick becoming frozen. If their team salary remains above the second apron for at least two more seasons between ’25/26 and ’28/29, their frozen pick would move to the end of the 2032 first round and would remain ineligible to be traded.

If multiple teams have a frozen pick moved to the end of the first round in a particular draft, they would make their selections in reverse order of their spot in the standings in the season prior to that draft. For example, if both the Clippers and Warriors have their 2032 first-rounders moved to the end of the round and Golden State finishes ahead of L.A. in 2031/32, the Clippers would pick ahead of the Warriors in that draft.

Can a team that begins a league year above the first or second tax apron gain the ability to make additional moves by reducing its salary and dipping below the apron(s)?

Yes. If a clubs opens the 2024/25 league year carrying $200MM in salary, then engages in a series of salary-dump trades that reduce its team salary to $125MM, it would no longer be subject to the restrictions facing a an apron team.

However, as long as the team’s salary remains above the first or second apron – or if the team is completing a transaction would push its salary above one apron or the other – that team is subject to the rules that apply to that apron level.

Critically, it’s worth noting that once a club engages in a roster move that is prohibited for a team above the first or second apron, that club will be hard-capped for the rest of the season at that apron level.

In 2023/24, for instance, teams like the Cavaliers and Rockets acquired players via sign-and-trade, the Lakers and Knicks used the non-taxpayer mid-level exception, and the Thunder and Trail Blazers took back more than 110% of their outgoing salary in trades. As a result, those teams are among several that are hard-capped at the first apron ($172,346,000) and aren’t permitted to surpass that salary level for the rest of ’23/24.

The Nuggets and Grizzlies are the only teams hard-capped at the second apron this season, since they used a piece of the mid-level exception that doesn’t exceed the taxpayer portion ($5MM) allotted to teams above the first apron.

Finally, there’s one more important point related to apron level restrictions and hard caps: A team that engages in any of the trade-related transactions prohibited for first or second apron teams between the end of the regular season and the end of that league year on June 30 will not be permitted to exceed that apron level during the following season.

If, for example, a team sends out cash in a trade in June of 2024, that team won’t be allowed to exceed the second tax apron during the 2024/25 league year. The inverse is also true — a team whose 2024/25 salary projects to be over the second apron won’t be able to trade cash in June.

This rule only applies to trade-related transactions because the ones related to free agency don’t come into effect between the end of the regular season and the start of the next league year.

Anything else I should know about the tax aprons?

It’s worth pointing out that a club with a number of incentive bonuses on its books may find itself operating above the first or second apron even if its base team salary doesn’t exceed those levels.

For the purposes of calculating a team’s salary, a player’s likely incentives are included in his cap hit, but his unlikely incentives aren’t (an incentive is considered likely to be earned if it was achieved last season and unlikely to be earned if it wasn’t). However, for the purposes of determining a team’s apron level, all those incentives are counted.

That means a team with a $170MM base salary in 2023/24 and an additional $5MM in unlikely incentives would be considered a first apron team and would be unable to make certain roster moves, since there’s a chance those incentives could be earned, pushing the club’s salary above $172,346,000.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Most “exceptions” available to an NBA team in a given league year – such as the mid-level, bi-annual, or minimum-salary exception – give that club some additional spending flexibility to continue adding players once its team salary has reached or exceeded the cap.

The hardship exception doesn’t fall into that category — it’s not related to the salary cap. Instead of granting a team extra spending power, a hardship exception gives the team the ability to temporarily carry one or more extra players on its standard roster.

A team qualifies for a hardship exception when it meets all of the following criteria:

1. It has at least four players unavailable due to injury or illness.
2. All four of those players have missed at least three consecutive games.
3. All four of those players are expected to remain sidelined for at least two more weeks.

If a team meets those criteria, the NBA will grant a hardship exception, which gives the club the ability to sign a free agent to a 10-day contract even if its 15-man roster is already full.

Typically, the annual period for 10-day signings doesn’t open until January 5, but a team that qualifies for a hardship exception can sign a player to a 10-day contract prior to that date. When the player’s 10-day contract expires, he can be re-signed to another 10-day deal as long as the team still meets the criteria for a hardship exception.

The rules for standard 10-day contracts prohibit a player from signing more than two 10-day deals with the same team in a given season. That limit also applies to players signing 10-day contracts via hardship rules.

A team can qualify for multiple hardship exceptions simultaneously if it has more than four players who meet the hardship criteria. For instance, a team with five injured players who have missed three or more games and will remain out for at least two more weeks could be granted two extra roster spots via the hardship provision. A team with six players who fit that bill could be granted three extra roster spots, and so on.

The Grizzlies were the first team this season to request and receive a hardship exception, and since they had five injured players who met the hardship criteria (Steven Adams, Brandon Clarke, Luke Kennard, Marcus Smart, and Jake LaRavia), they were granted two additional roster spots. They used their hardship exceptions to sign Jaylen Nowell and Shaquille Harrison to 10-day deals and have since re-signed Nowell.

Here are a few more rules related to the hardship exception:

• Only players unavailable due to injury or illness can be counted toward a team’s sidelined players for hardship purposes. A player who is unavailable for other reasons (e.g. a personal absence, a suspension, etc.) would not qualify.
  • Note: For instance, if the Grizzlies only had three injured players, they wouldn’t be able to count suspended guard Ja Morant as a fourth unavailable player in order to qualify for a hardship exception. However, they were able to move him to the suspended list five games into his ban, temporarily opening up an extra roster spot that way.
• If one of the four injured players is ready to return earlier than anticipated and a team that used a hardship exception no longer meets the criteria, that team must reduce its roster count to 15 players. In this scenario, most clubs would simply terminate the 10-day contract signed by their hardship addition, but a team could also keep that player and waive someone else instead.
• If a player signs a hardship contract with fewer than 10 days left in the season, its expiry date is considered to be the last day of the regular season. The team wouldn’t hold any form of Bird rights on that player.
• Only a team with a full 15-man roster can qualify for a hardship exception.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Information from Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ and ESPN’s Bobby Marks was used in the creation of this post.

Derrick Rose‘s name doesn’t technically show up at all in the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. However, like Gilbert Arenas, the veteran NBA guard has become an informal namesake of one of the CBA’s rules.

The Rose rule allows a player who is finishing his rookie scale contract to sign a maximum-salary contract that exceeds the typical limit for a player with fewer than seven years of NBA experience. The rule, which was created after Rose won a Most Valuable Player award while playing on his rookie contract, allows young stars to qualify for a maximum salary worth 30% of the salary cap instead of 25%.

Although we colloquially refer to this rule as the Rose rule, it’s technically known in the CBA as the “higher max criteria” for “fifth year eligible” players, since a player has to meet certain performance benchmarks to qualify for the higher maximum salary in his fifth NBA season. A player becomes eligible for the 30% max entering his fifth season when at least one of the following is true:

• The player was named to an All-NBA team in the most recent season, or in two of the past three seasons.
• The player was named Defensive Player of the Year in the most recent season, or in two of the past three seasons.
• The player was named Most Valuable Player in any of the past three seasons.

A player signing a rookie scale extension can receive the higher Rose rule max as long as his extension covers at least four new years. A player signing a free agent contract can also be eligible for the Rose rule max if he’s coming off his four-year rookie contract — or if he’s a former second-round pick or undrafted free agent with four years of experience, and he’s re-signing with his current team.

This latter scenario almost never arises, since it’s extremely rare for a player who wasn’t drafted in the first round to develop into an All-NBA player within four years. There are rare scenarios in which it might happen — Nikola Jokic, for instance, was a second-round pick who made the All-NBA team in his fourth season. But he had already signed a second contract by that point, having re-upped with the Nuggets as a restricted free agent following his third season.

Of course, just because a player is eligible for a Rose rule extension, that doesn’t mean a team has to offer a starting salary worth the full 30% max. That’s still a matter of negotiation between the player and team, and a starting salary between 25-30% is possible.

Teams and players who agree to a rookie scale extension can also negotiate conditional maximum starting salaries that hinge on the player’s performance in his fourth season, before his extension begins.

For example, a team and player could agree to the following terms:

• The player’s starting salary will be worth 25% of the cap if he doesn’t make an All-NBA Team in his fourth season.
• The player’s starting salary will be worth 27% of the cap if he’s named to the All-NBA Third Team.
• The player’s starting salary will be worth 28% of the cap if he’s named to the All-NBA Second Team.
• The player’s starting salary will be worth 30% of the cap if he’s named to the All-NBA First Team.

Several players have agreed to this form of Rose rule extension since the rule was implemented in 2017. Devin Booker, Ben Simmons, and Pascal Siakam were among the players whose starting salaries on their rookie scale contracts could have ranged from between 27-30% depending on which All-NBA team they made.

Siakam was voted to the All-NBA Second Team the spring before his rookie scale extension went into effect, securing a starting salary worth 28% of the cap, based on the terms of his Rose rule deal. Simmons’ contract also began at 28% of the cap after he made an All-NBA Third Team that same year. Booker missed out on All-NBA honors ahead of his fourth season, however, so he received a standard 25% max deal.

In recent years, the significant majority of rookie scale extensions that include Rose rule language have been more of a yes or no proposition — a player qualifies for the 30% max with an All-NBA spot, regardless of which team he makes.

That’s reportedly the case for Anthony Edwards, Tyrese Haliburton, and LaMelo Ball, who signed maximum-salary rookie scale extensions this past offseason and would receive a bump to the 30% max by making an All-NBA team in 2024.

While a player can, in some cases, meet the Rose rule performance criteria after he signs his contract, he must meet the criteria before the contract begins. So if Edwards were to miss out on an All-NBA spot in 2024, then earned one in 2025, it would be too late for him to qualify for a Rose rule deal — his maximum-salary contract would start at 25% of the cap in 2024/25 and increase by 8% annually from there.

It’s worth noting that NBA’s previous Collective Bargaining Agreement also included the “designated rookie” rule, which was separate from the Rose rule but often applied to Rose rule deals. The designated rookie rule allowed teams to sign players to rookie scale extensions that spanned five new years instead of four. Teams weren’t permitted to carry more than two designated rookies at a time, including no more than one who was acquired via trade.

However, the latest CBA eliminated the designated rookie rule, allowing all rookie scale extensions to cover up to five new years and placing no restrictions on how many of those players those teams are permitted to carry or acquire. The Rose rule is now the only one governing deviations from the norm for rookie scale extensions.

Finally, a player with between seven and nine years of experience can qualify for a maximum salary worth 35% of the cap instead of 30% by meeting similar criteria, but that’s related to the designated veteran rule rather than the Rose rule. We cover that subject in a separate glossary entry.

Note: This is a Hoops Rumors Glossary entry. Our glossary posts will explain specific rules relating to trades, free agency, or other aspects of the NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement. Larry Coon’s Salary Cap FAQ was used in the creation of this post.

Earlier variations of this post were published in 2013 and 2018 by Chuck Myron and Luke Adams.