One of the biggest differences between the CBA in today’s NBA and the past is the involvement of the second apron, which is a high salary threshold that discourages a team from spending more once they exceed the general cap space. In retrospect, the second apron was implemented to prevent superstars from forming superteams and creating an uneven competitive field.
Since it was added to the newest CBA in 2023, high-spending teams like the Boston Celtics, Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Lakers to name a few have been challenged to keep their rosters intact. According to former player Charles Barkley, there’s no one else to blame for this besides LeBron James and Kevin Durant.
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“Why did they have to come up with bullsh*t rules, Bill? Because all these guys want to play together and not compete. How many great players do we need in one team?” started Barkley in his recent appearance on “The Bill Simmons Podcast.”
“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?” he added.
Barkley comes in Silver’s defense
It’s not a coincidence that the NBA has witnessed more parity and competitive teams over the last couple of years since the tighter rules have been implemented. There hasn’t been a relevant dynasty in the league since the Warriors’ last championship, which was in 2022. On top of that, there has been a different NBA champion over the last seven years, which depicts how unpredictable the league is today.
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Silver and the rest of the NBA have been working hard behind the scenes on the CBA to get to this moment. The second apron isn’t some sort of revenge by the commissioner towards LeBron and KD. Still, it’s more so a way to encourage every team, especially those in small markets, to compete more easily. The focus today is on growing talent through the draft, not signing them in the offseason.
“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,” Barkley stated. “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.”
The second apron is here to stay
Before the second apron was created, teams were punished for going over the cap by requiring them to spend more, which for some, like the Los Angeles Clippers, owned by Steve Ballmer, wasn’t much of a problem. That’s why more extreme measures had to be taken, such as freezing first-round picks, removing trade flexibility, the power to aggregate contracts, etc.
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The second apron also doesn’t go hand in hand with sustaining a team’s success, which is why it didn’t take long for the Celtics team that won the title in 2024 to break apart this offseason. How teams strategically build their rosters and spend financially can make or break their chances to compete for a championship under this CBA.
Whether or not this was implemented because of James and Durant’s moves throughout their careers is up for debate. For Barkley, they are to blame for this, but at the very least, it led to the league being much more competitive.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Sep 3, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.