Arguably the biggest change in the most recent NBA CBA that was agreed upon in 2023 was the introduction of aprons in the salary cap structure. In particular, the second apron is a spot that teams do not want to reach in consecutive years as it can severely hinder their ability to make moves. As such, the Los Angeles Lakers and every other team in the league have often had to move on from players in order to avoid those penalties.
This has made it difficult for teams to keep their rosters together long term as they have to maneuver around these aprons. But Hall of Famer and “Inside the NBA” analyst Charles Barkley believes a couple of players are the reason these changes came into place.
In an interview on The Bill Simmons Podcast, Barkley blamed Lakers superstar LeBron James and Houston Rockets star Kevin Durant for creating super teams and forcing the league to come up with rules to prevent that:
“Why did they have to come up with bullshit rules, Bill? Because all these guys want to play together and not compete. How many great players do we need in one team? They made up these rules, these young people, well if I had a dollar for every time I heard the second apron, why did Adam Silver have to put the second apron in? Because LeBron wanted to get all his guys together. KD wanted to go play with the Warriors. Wait? Ya’ll don’t want to win the championship and compete against each other? Adam Silver had to do something. We can’t let one team hoard all the good players. They had Klay, Steph and Draymond and they didn’t need KD. Don’t get mad at Adam Silver because ya’ll wanted to play together and dominate the league because ya’ll don’t want to compete.”
Of course, LeBron famously joined the Miami Heat alongside Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh back in 2010, winning a pair of championships, while Durant joined the Golden State Warriors in 2016 and won two of his own. James is undoubtedly a catalyst for this player empowerment era, but it may be a bit unfair to pin all the blame on these two superstars.
There were a number of different issues that forced the NBA to implement this system and while it does have its faults, organizations have begun figuring out the ways to make things work for now.
Charles Barkley discusses difference between Kobe Bryant, LeBron James and Michael Jordan
Despite blaming LeBron James for the second apron rules, Charles Barkley still views him as one of the best players he’s ever seen alongside Michael Jordan and Lakers legend Kobe Bryant. And Barkley discussed what he believes is the difference between the three.
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