Kyle Kuzma warns that strict salary aprons are killing roster continuity, forcing front offices to prioritize tax avoidance over talent retention and fundamentally altering the league’s landscape.
The new Collective Bargaining Agreement went into effect on July 1, 2023, with the aim of bringing more parity to the NBA, but Kyle Kuzma believes it has brought more harm than parity.
Kuzma posted a lengthy statement on X, criticizing the new CBA. His comments come from deep observation after seeing how free agency has gone down over the past two seasons.
"Teams are no longer making purely basketball decisions," Kuzma wrote on Friday night. "They’re making fear-based apron decisions. That means good players get squeezed, homegrown cores get broken up, fan-favorite teams lose their identity, and the overall product loses some of the nostalgia and continuity that made people fall in love with the NBA in the first place."
The new CBA introduced the first and second aprons. These aprons, if surpassed, limit the avenues for teams in free agency, trades or the buyout market.
The first apron limit is set at $209.15 million, and the second apron limit is set at $221.686 million for next season. Restrictions at the first apron carry trade limitations (cannot take back more money), buyout limitations (cannot sign a bought-out player who made more than the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception), cannot participate in sign-and-trades and cannot use the Bi-Annual Exception or Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception.
Limitations at the second apron are even worse. Second-apron teams cannot aggregate salaries in trades, lose the TPMLE, first-round picks are moved to the end of the round (if exceeded for multiple seasons) and cannot sign buyout players.
To Kuzma's sentiment, these restrictions cause teams to make decisions based on not surpassing these aprons, rather than valuing free agents or homegrown talent. For example, the Sacramento Kings have an active cap of $208 million for next season.
Zach LaVine, Domantas Sabonis and DeMar DeRozan are the three highest-paid players on the team. One player is bound to become the odd man out for the sake of remaining under the first apron.
Sacramento is expected to trade or waive the 17-year veteran using the waive-and-stretch provision. The organization is also looking to move off LaVine or Sabonis, which would get them further under the first apron.
Devin Carter was also a casualty of such restrictions. The Kings sent him to the Atlanta Hawks with a 2033 second-round pick, which helped cut into their active cap.
Carter was a lottery pick for the team in 2024 and blossomed in an increased role last season. When the injury bug hit the team, he produced. Now, he's a Hawk, and it's tied to Sacramento shedding salary.
Kuzma's comments on the new CBA hit home for some teams and players who are being harmed more than they are benefiting.
"The next CBA is a do-or-die moment for us as players," Kuzma said. "It's only going to get worse for us. We need transparency, accountability, and a serious re-evaluation of who is representing us and how they are representing us."
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