Under the seven-year NBA-NBPA Collective Bargaining Agreement covering the 2023–24 through 2029–30 seasons (Section I, page 1), roster construction for high-payroll contenders is governed by a two-tier apron system. In Section III.B (pages 1–2) of the 2023 CBA Principal Deal Points Summary, the First Apron Level was initialized at approximately $7 million above the Tax Level and the Second Apron Level at $17.5 million above the Tax Level for 2023–24, with both aprons indexed to grow at the rate of growth in the Salary Cap beginning in 2024–25 (subject to Section III.I’s 10 percent maximum annual cap and tax growth ceiling).
Transaction Restrictions at the First and Second Aprons
Crossing the First Apron prohibits a club from signing a Regular Season buyout player whose pre-waiver salary for that season exceeded the Non-Taxpayer Mid-Level Salary Exception, caps the Traded Player Exception (TPE) salary-matching multiplier at 100 percent after the 2023–24 Regular Season, and bars the use of pre-existing TPEs generated in a prior year. Exceeding the Second Apron eliminates access to the Taxpayer Mid-Level Salary Exception ($5 million with a two-year maximum term in 2023–24) and—following the 2023–24 Regular Season—prohibits teams from using a TPE generated by aggregating the salaries of multiple traded players, sending cash in a trade, or acquiring a player contract via sign-and-trade using a TPE.
The Seventh-Year Frozen Pick and Three-Slot Two-Way Pipelines
Beginning with the 2024–25 Salary Cap Year, Section III.C (page 3) freezes a team’s first-round draft pick in the seventh Draft following the last day of any Salary Cap Year in which its Team Salary exceeds the Second Apron. If the club’s Team Salary exceeds the Second Apron in at least two of the immediately following four Salary Cap Years, that Frozen Pick moves to the end of the first round; conversely, if Team Salary remains at or below the Second Apron in at least three of those four following years, the pick is unfrozen. To help clubs build internal depth under those constraints, Section III.F.6 (page 5) establishes the Second Round Pick Exception for signing second-round draft selections to three- or four-year contracts, while Section VII.B (page 9) expands the maximum number of Two-Way Players per team from two to three with a March 4 signing deadline.