“We ain’t Houdinis” – NBA executives slam $207,824,000 financial ‘handcuffs’ for affecting player movement and profit

For the last two years, NBA teams and analysts have talked about the second apron of the new Collective Bargaining Agreement. Some teams prepared for it in advance, while others looked to make the most of their rosters while they still could.

Some, like the Boston Celtics, rode that approach to a championship, while others, like the Phoenix Suns, spiralled.

With the threshold calculated at $207,824,000 for the upcoming season, league executives are worried how this will impact player movement, not only because of the financial implications but also the penalties:

“What’s funny is that once they sign on to the new system and they have to operate under it, they turn to us in the front office and say, ‘Figure a way to get around it,’" one executive told Heavy. “You know who you’d need to hire to circumvent the cap in this generation and this era? Houdini. He’s the only dude. He can get out of handcuffs and ankle cuffs. The rest of us, we ain’t Houdinis.”

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This new system was implemented to create more parity in the league. No team has won back-to-back championships since the 2018 Golden State Warriors.

However, some fans love to watch dynasties rise and fall, whereas others would rather see more competitiveness and not just one or two stacked superteams.

The second apron hit the Boston Celtics

The Boston Celtics have arguably been hit the hardest by the second apron. They were forced to part ways with Jrue Holiday, Kristaps Porzingis, Luke Kornet and, most likely, Al Horford.

An executive believes they're the perfect example of the negative impact this could have on a championship contender:

“Boston was put in an even tougher position when Tatum went down, but don’t you think they’d have liked to be able to keep that group together longer?” an executive said. “What happens if Tatum is able to come back late this season and for the playoffs — then he gets there and looks around, and there’s all these key guys missing?"

The Celtics were already in a tough spot with Jayson Tatum's Achilles injury, and losing three key contributors to their championship run won't help their case.

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About the author

Ernesto Cova

Ernesto Cova is a journalist at Sportskeeda with a PhD in Sports Psychology. His education helped him develop a clearer understanding of the sports world as a whole, including basketball. Ernesto has over eight years of experience in the field, working for Fadeaway World, The Inquisitr, NBA Blast, The Cold Wire and Bolavip, among others.

His favorite team is the Chicago Bulls because of the Michael Jordan era. Jordan is Ernesto's all-time favorite, as he changed the game forever. Ernesto's second favorite was Kobe Bryant because he embodied that same competitive fire and Ernesto watched him play throughout his entire career. Nowadays, Ernesto really likes Stephen Curry, who he believes to be the most influential player of the past 15 years or so.

Ernesto's favorite basketball moment was when Venezuela -- his country -- took down Canada to take home the 2015 FIBA Americas Cup.

When not watching or writing about basketball, Ernesto likes to read and is interested in photography.

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