ESPN’s Bobby Marks informed Bright Side of how the second apron aggregation restrictions affect the Phoenix Suns.
Rules and restrictions, taxes and aprons. Since the current NBA collective bargaining agreement has tightened constraints on the teams that are prepared to spend money, these terms have become part of our daily vocabulary. The Phoenix Suns are one of those teams.
Have you been hitting the trade machine hard? Are you trying to put the puzzle together that will result in a Suns’ championship roster? Buyer beware? The trade machines at ESPN and Fanspo do not have the countless intricacies of the second apron restrictions built in. Fanspo’s is more accurate, but you can still aggregate outgoing contracts, which means it is broken.
Many users of the trade machine have been perplexed by this since the deal mentioned above is not possible. But it states, “success”.
One of the primary questions that we receive — and I’ve asked it myself — is the aggregation of salaries. In the 2023-24 season, second apron teams could aggregate salaries. We know this because we sent four players out at the trade deadline to receive Royce O’Neale and David Roddy.
This is another restriction that gets tighter for the 2024-25 season. Teams in the second apron can no longer aggregate salaries. It must be one-for-one, and the incoming salary can only be 100% more than the outgoing salary. But when does this start? Did it start when the deadline was over? Does it start on the new year for the NBA, which is July 1?
Bright Side of the Sun reached out to ESPN capologist Bobby Mark for clarification.
We get this question a lot: When does the salary aggregation rule of the second apron hit teams? The answer?
Per @BobbyMarks42, aggregation rules and new apron rules started on April 15.
Therefore, the Suns will not be stacking contracts this summer.
— Bright Side of the Sun (@BrightSideSun) May 20, 2024
The ESPN salary Guru informed us that all second apron restrictions went into effect April 15.
The restriction applies immediately because the Suns were a second team last season. For teams that were in the first tax apron last season, like the Minnesota Timberwolves for example, it does not apply until July 1. They Wolves can stack their outgoing salaries, outgoing until that time, whereas the Suns cannot.
Confusing, right? But it is the answer.