Every serious contender in the NBA would love to acquire superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo from the Milwaukee Bucks before the trade deadline of 3 p.m. Feb. 5, and that includes the Cavaliers.

Before you get too excited, keep in mind that most experts have concluded such a trade would be very difficult for Cavs president of basketball operations Koby Altman to negotiate. Ironically, one of the biggest obstacles is payroll, but not because team owner Dan Gilbert is unwilling to spend whatever it takes to make the Cavs champions for the second time in the 56-year history of the franchise. In fact, the exact opposite is the problem.

The Cavaliers have the highest payroll in the NBA at $228,159,488. More importantly, their total cap allocation is $242,361,804. They are more than $87 million over the salary cap. This puts them in what is mysteriously called “the second apron.” Some NBA writers and sports talk show hosts toss around the term like everyone knows what it means.

The second apron kicks in when a team is more than $17.5 million above the luxury tax threshold of $187,895,000. get.

Severe trade restrictions come with being in second apron purgatory. The format is designed to punish teams that willingly plow through the salary cap and are unconcerned about luxury tax penalties. For example, a team in the second apron cannot trade first-round picks seven years out. Salary matching in trades has to be within 110 percent instead of the 125 percent that teams in good standing get. Many others apply.

Brian Windhorst of ESPN speculated the Cavaliers would have to part with Donovan Mitchell or Evan Mobley to entice the Bucks to trade Antetokounmpo to Cleveland. But it would not be a one-for-one trade.

The names of center Jarrett Allen and guard Darius Garland have come up at the trade deadline and offseason for three straight years,

The Bucks are 18-28 and in 12th place in the Eastern Conference. They are not interested in getting better this season. They would prefer to acquire draft picks for their superstar. The Cavs could not take on the pro-rated portion of Antetokounmpo’s gargantuan $54,126,450 salary because of the second-apron restrictions, and they don’t have the draft capital to satisfy Milwaukee because they still owe the Utah Jazz draft picks from the Mitchell trade.

Altman in September of 2022 traded Lauri Markkanen, Collin Sexton (via sign and trade), Ochai Agbaji and unprotected first-round picks in 2025, 2027, and 2029, plus two first-round pick swaps in 2026 and 2028.

The Cavs won’t have a first-round pick to trade until 2031, and if they traded it, they wouldn’t be able to trade another one until 2033.

If the Cavs do anything at the deadline, they are more likely to make a trade on a smaller scale, perhaps involving  De’Andre Hunter or Lonzo Ball. Stay tuned.

I didn’t know that

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