How New Approach To NBA Salary Cap Could Change Financial Landscape

NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 25: Cedric Coward (R) shakes hands with NBA commissioner Adam Silver (L) after being drafted eleventh overall by the Portland Trailblazers during the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft at Barclays Center on June 25, 2025 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)

Getty Images

With a new focus on roster depth, NBA teams now have to structure their books differently if they wish to have between eight or nine rotation players, who can compete in the playoffs.

With the rare exception of having built a three-star team through the draft, as the Oklahoma City Thunder did, it seems the playbook for the vast majority of NBA organizations will be the two-star model, in which they dedicate between 50-70% of their salary cap on two players, and then fill out the rest of the cap (which they can go beyond) through mid-level exceptions, and trades.

Team-friendly extensions

More than ever, teams are looking at contractual bargains, even with the challenge of not being able to retain those players down the line.

(The veteran extension limit is 140% of a player’s latest salaried year, or the average contract.)

If a potential championship contender can get a player or two significantly below market value for a few years, but that puts them in line to genuinely compete for a title, it now appears that teams are willing to sacrifice long-term flexibility in order to optimize a short competitive window.

The same can even be said of rookie extensions, where we’re now seeing four teams in restricted free agency (Brooklyn, Chicago, Golden State, and Philadelphia) squeezing what they can out of players from last year.

Teams are, simply, afraid to overpay, as they know they need to have money to pay two full rotations, which is costly.

The path ahead

For teams moving forward, the restrictions that come along with the two aprons will often force their hand.

If a team cracks either apron, they can’t take a single dollar back in a trade, making it literally impossible for two apron teams to strike a deal, unless the salaries align perfectly.

Could we see more teams structure deals in which they hand a player a contract with round numbers? It’d make any trade easier to conduct if two teams both have a player earning, say, $18 million even, than $18,793,722 or other odd numbers.

There are ways for teams to get creative that way, but that doesn’t change that the restrictions are still in place, and as such, teams will need to reserve space for their ultimate vision, assuming they do indeed buy into the idea of depth.

This will have an interesting effect on the NBA middle class, where more players could find themselves in the Non-Tax MLE area financially, and where the playing field isn’t skewed too much towards stars.

We’ll see how NBA teams decide to plan ahead, but one thing is for sure. The financial landscape of the league could change drastically.

Unless noted otherwise, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball-Reference. All salary information via Spotrac. All odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook.