I used to scoff at the cap going up every year but this offseason taught me a bit when it comes to contracts. I never thought I’d see bench guys get close to 100 mil. Crazy to see
I’m a big fan of the NBA so I already understand most of your topics but your style of content is very refreshing and enjoyable so I’ve been binging them anyways. You’ve got great perspective and a lot of your values shine through your work. Great job! keep it up, looking forward to seeing your growth
Been going through all your videos lately and really enjoying them. You’re a very perceptive guy and your videos are a good mix of being nuanced yet accessible. I also appreciate the occasional philosophy-related statement/reflection. Keep it up!
You forgot to mention a different exception known as Bird Rights, where a team is allowed to go over or stay over the salary cap in order to sign or extend a player that's been on the team for more than 3 seasons. This prevents teams from dismantling a roster in order to remain cap compliant and reward players for staying on a team. Think of it as tenure.
Future video title: "Be Good to your Moms: NBA Stories". I wonder if penalties will get even harsher for the apron levels whenever the next iteration is negotiated or if we've reached peak salary cap standards in the NBA. Teams have entire departments looking at this stuff right? But I don't know if there would be "better" or more clever ways to construct a team that most people already haven't thought of in relation to salary cap compliance. I'm not sure, learning a lot! Another great vid, looking forward to the next one
So I was watching this other video where they explained why the distant picks matter. So if you are paying your going the "win now" route and paying your players now you would only keep them for a certain window say 7-8 years before they start to decline and you decide to re-build. By the time you start to re-build your picks are now at the back of the draft and you essentially shot yourself in the foot. It is fine if you won your championship during your "win now" but what if you didn't.
The reason picks are frozen so far into the future is because teams that are good, need those draft picks For example, since Boston is over the second apron, if their pick is frozen for 2026, i wouldn't rlly matter because Boston is gonna be good in 2026 their draft pick is already going to be 25-30, because it's only a few years away But in 7 years, Boston may not be as good, with a combination of age and players leaving, they might fall into the lottery, and if that pick is frozen, Boston is screwed. This draft pick freezing is under the assumption of "if a team is paying this much, they're probably going to be good for the foreseeable future, let's make them suffer after that" Again, for example, this is rlly going to screw over Pheonix. They have two old superstars, which will retire soon. Let's say they froze the 2026 pick, Pheonix is still going to be good in 2026, even if one of their superstars retire. But in the 2030s? Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal are gone, and booker can carry a bum team alone. Therefore, the team will fall into the lottery, and have their pick frozen for their spending habits 10 yrs in the past Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk
That's true. I also realized the seven years in the future part is because there's no way that pick is already traded because you can't trade a pick that far in the future.
freezing picks actually does have an effect, we’ve seen how really distant first rounders are being used as currency (ie the rob dillingham trade), so freezing them can eliminate a teams ability to trade for players, especially if you’re a team like the timberwolves who have already shipped out a bunch of very recent first rounders in trades
Any rule involving not being allowed to trade picks almost certainly involves the Cleveland Cavaliers and Ted Stepien, even if not directly. It's there to prevent owners and/or gms from being Egregiously stupid and mortgaging all their future assets for immediate success (which a lot of times fails) in order to make sure the team can still have hope of succeeding in the future, otherwise the other nba teams are basically paying to keep the team from folding entirely.
I don't even know if it's really a paycut. It's just a safe bet. I don't know why he didn't do a 2 year contract with a player option on the second. He'd be eligible for a supermax if he made all-nba. I don't think it's about the money for him though.
You can talk about the Olympic team and how they are chosen and how they can be great or bad or just something that theme since it’s around the perfect time
As well as the second apron being a figurative hard cap, I believe there is also a literal hard cap in the realm of $210-220 million, that cannot be exceeded under any circumstances
I mean I would say greatly benefits small market teams as well! I think the new cba was a response to super teams and lots of player movement. It seems like they want a lot more emphasis on the draft and teams developing their players
You should make a video on how the draft has changed over the past decade and maybe even before. Like how now more international players are getting drafted and generally teams used to be more skeptical of choosing someone who wasn’t in March madness or college ball before (TINGUS PINGUS) As to compared to this years draft
FYI first apron teams can sign players on buyout market as long as that player wasn’t making more than the mid level exception in the previous year. ($12.8 million)
Yes baseball doesnt have hard cap but it does have a soft cap, similar to the NBA. MLB has a luxury tax with increasing penalties the longer you are above it. There are also surcharges depending how far above the threshold they are.
@@whatslaps no worries , I just think maybe a second or two extra on the delay especially when the information is a bit denser. Keep up the good work though!
7:28 It's so that they can't trade up to get better prospects, or trade down so they can hoard more picks or dump cheap contracts and team control on other teams.
Haha yeah, apron probably not the best choice of verbiage for that, could have maybe chose something better. Didn’t know that’s how salary cap is established. A professional team spending quadruple the salary as another in the same major league does not seem like a great formula for competitiveness. Kinda funny how the tax line is 30 mil over the cap, doesn’t that kinda technically make the real cap 169 mil? Gotta love loopholes for avoiding getting into too much trouble with money/overpaying stuff. Hahaha that “hooray!” got me 😆. Those first apron buyout/sign and trade things are pretty interesting, didn’t know that how that worked. Second apron stuff is interesting too! Wow, didn’t know these kind of things could help make me a more satisfied fan by being more informed in this way. So the super hyper crazy rich effect how the rules get set, makes sense. Thanks you again dude, always good stuff. You, da, man.
I have a theory that there are more revenue streams than what they're reporting with the BRI. Otherwise the owners would be losing 100s of millions of dollars. I love that Brunson took less money so they could build a better team. A lot of people are clown him, but I think it shows that he cares about more than money. Go Knicks!
@@whatslaps like how dennis rodman was mopping floors before making it to the draft. i didn’t know if other players had weirder paths. like ive always wondered like how did Quincy acy or jj berea make it the nba.
Freezing picks in the distant future can have adverse effects on a team draft pick flexibility because you can't trade a first round pick 2 years in a row. So, a team that had a 2032 first round pick frozen couldn't trade their 2031 first round pick either and possibly their 2033 pick as well
I don't think that's it. The Sun's have a top heavy expensive roster with very little draft compensation to begin with, they have a team that tops out at the 2nd round with no roster flexibility, no or diminished draft compensation and little flexibility with that compensation. It's a punishing threshold. It's the league saying we are going to punch in this general area if you want to put your face in that area it's gonna get rocked
Is the reason for the 2032 no trade clause in order to ensure that if a team knows they will be over the 2nd apron that they don’t just trade that pick to another team and burn them with the last pick in the draft? I mean, couldn’t they still do that so long as they trade their draft pick prior to exceeding the 2nd apron?
@@whatslaps also, what if more than one team qualifies for the 2032 last pick? Do they have a tiebreaker for the race to the bottom with whoever exceeded it more? This going over budget this sure is fun!
Baseball is able to get away with such gaps between team spending because baseball is a far more luck dependent sport then basketball. You have to have skill but the luck aspect of baseball makes it so that a mid level player can have a better day then a superstar any given game in basketball if Norris cole out plays bron even 1 game it's impressive in baseball Alex verdugo having a vetter game then Juan Soto happens ones a week just due to the way baseball Is played and each player only gets one bat every 9 batters
I like all of the videos you make I think they are great but I don’t like how the videos are made so you can easily clip them to put them on TikTok or that’s what it seems like
I ate a corn dog the other day and thought of you ❤️
I ate whatslaps the other day and thought of a corn dog ❤️
Ayo
@@yungflux1309ayo
mustard on top?
I only got into the NBA this season and your videos have been amazing at helping me navigate all the logistics of the NBA, so thanks!
the best time to get into the NBA is right now, its the beginning of a new era
I got into it in 2022, and it was kinda confusing having the old warriors and the young Celtics in the finals
@@MaskedMann still the end of the old rn the old guys still around
Sweet! you're enjoying the game!
They call it an apron because nba salaries are a fucking mess
that's good. I like that.
Fun fact the luxury tax wouldn’t hurt any of these owners cause they’re all filthy rich. Owning a sports team is like government assistance for them.
kind of. it has been a losing business in years past. around the second CBA owners were saying they were losing money.
@@whatslapsthat’s a lie the owners are lying to leverage more money
Owning sports teams is actually a pretty bad business.
@@yetekt6953 ok bootlicker
@@Grind2Excellence yeah when rich people say they’re losing money they just really mean they didn’t make as much as they wanted this year.
I used to scoff at the cap going up every year but this offseason taught me a bit when it comes to contracts. I never thought I’d see bench guys get close to 100 mil. Crazy to see
where is this money coming from?
Thats 100 mil for multiple years.
I’m a big fan of the NBA so I already understand most of your topics but your style of content is very refreshing and enjoyable so I’ve been binging them anyways. You’ve got great perspective and a lot of your values shine through your work. Great job! keep it up, looking forward to seeing your growth
thanks man. I'm glad you're enjoying the content!
Man, how the hell is boston going to afford paying half a billion to their starters
I know. he just extended everyone, and dipped before he had to pay them.
You should make a video on how fouls in the nba work, I’ve always found them very confusing.
That could be good. I could maybe do 8 minutes on it
Been going through all your videos lately and really enjoying them. You’re a very perceptive guy and your videos are a good mix of being nuanced yet accessible. I also appreciate the occasional philosophy-related statement/reflection. Keep it up!
I appreciate that! Glad you're enjoying the videos!
Thanks!
always appreciate the support, brother!
You forgot to mention a different exception known as Bird Rights, where a team is allowed to go over or stay over the salary cap in order to sign or extend a player that's been on the team for more than 3 seasons. This prevents teams from dismantling a roster in order to remain cap compliant and reward players for staying on a team. Think of it as tenure.
yeah baby!
Thanks man, this channel has been really helpful since I started watching the NBA just last season.
Awesome! Glad you're enjoying the league man!
I definitely needed this video in the midst of the offseason
it's crazy out here.
The second apron keeps competitiveness whilst punishing teams for winning.
you mean for spending?
@@whatslaps no winning! Look at Denver. They’ve had to gut their roster ever since they’ve won their championship.
Be good to your mom and eat a corn dog. Literally one of the best closing lines.
good signs offs chose themselves.
*choose (I think)
Thanks for this one it’s always confusing when you don’t know what these terms are
Gotta be a lawyer to understand basketball these days
Future video title: "Be Good to your Moms: NBA Stories". I wonder if penalties will get even harsher for the apron levels whenever the next iteration is negotiated or if we've reached peak salary cap standards in the NBA. Teams have entire departments looking at this stuff right? But I don't know if there would be "better" or more clever ways to construct a team that most people already haven't thought of in relation to salary cap compliance. I'm not sure, learning a lot! Another great vid, looking forward to the next one
I imagine the next CBA will look a lot different with expansion. going to be less be BRI and less money for the players.
If anyone can convince Garfield to love Mondays, it's this guy.
Garfield is a big hoophead
So I was watching this other video where they explained why the distant picks matter. So if you are paying your going the "win now" route and paying your players now you would only keep them for a certain window say 7-8 years before they start to decline and you decide to re-build. By the time you start to re-build your picks are now at the back of the draft and you essentially shot yourself in the foot. It is fine if you won your championship during your "win now" but what if you didn't.
picks aren't really that valuable if the team is really good.
The reason picks are frozen so far into the future is because teams that are good, need those draft picks
For example, since Boston is over the second apron, if their pick is frozen for 2026, i wouldn't rlly matter because Boston is gonna be good in 2026 their draft pick is already going to be 25-30, because it's only a few years away
But in 7 years, Boston may not be as good, with a combination of age and players leaving, they might fall into the lottery, and if that pick is frozen, Boston is screwed.
This draft pick freezing is under the assumption of "if a team is paying this much, they're probably going to be good for the foreseeable future, let's make them suffer after that"
Again, for example, this is rlly going to screw over Pheonix. They have two old superstars, which will retire soon. Let's say they froze the 2026 pick, Pheonix is still going to be good in 2026, even if one of their superstars retire. But in the 2030s? Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal are gone, and booker can carry a bum team alone. Therefore, the team will fall into the lottery, and have their pick frozen for their spending habits 10 yrs in the past
Thank you for listening to my Ted Talk
That's true. I also realized the seven years in the future part is because there's no way that pick is already traded because you can't trade a pick that far in the future.
This video will help all the homies playing MyNBA in 2k 😂
I do it for the homies.
freezing picks actually does have an effect, we’ve seen how really distant first rounders are being used as currency (ie the rob dillingham trade), so freezing them can eliminate a teams ability to trade for players, especially if you’re a team like the timberwolves who have already shipped out a bunch of very recent first rounders in trades
yeah I guess it's just an interesting punishment for that particular crime.
Any rule involving not being allowed to trade picks almost certainly involves the Cleveland Cavaliers and Ted Stepien, even if not directly. It's there to prevent owners and/or gms from being Egregiously stupid and mortgaging all their future assets for immediate success (which a lot of times fails) in order to make sure the team can still have hope of succeeding in the future, otherwise the other nba teams are basically paying to keep the team from folding entirely.
yeah Stepien had some ballls though
Great video, thank you man
thanks, no doubt!
Jalen Brunson pay cut talks 🙏
I don't even know if it's really a paycut. It's just a safe bet. I don't know why he didn't do a 2 year contract with a player option on the second. He'd be eligible for a supermax if he made all-nba. I don't think it's about the money for him though.
You can talk about the Olympic team and how they are chosen and how they can be great or bad or just something that theme since it’s around the perfect time
yeah, seems like people would watch that.
As well as the second apron being a figurative hard cap, I believe there is also a literal hard cap in the realm of $210-220 million, that cannot be exceeded under any circumstances
oh dang. I didn't know that.
Very informative and to the point thanks
happy to help
@@whatslaps can you do a video on how Olympic basketball is structured? Including rules differences and the scheduling/phases
I mean I would say greatly benefits small market teams as well! I think the new cba was a response to super teams and lots of player movement. It seems like they want a lot more emphasis on the draft and teams developing their players
yeah, I'm a 2nd apron fan for sure. If you're spending that much money, you should be happy with your team.
Glad I found this dude, You're a genuis.
Glad you found it too, man!
You should make a video on how the draft has changed over the past decade and maybe even before.
Like how now more international players are getting drafted and generally teams used to be more skeptical of choosing someone who wasn’t in March madness or college ball before (TINGUS PINGUS)
As to compared to this years draft
what's the title though? (I like it.)
I been playing 2k myEras mode…. Gottta remove that hard cap!
For the sake of 2k 🙏
FYI first apron teams can sign players on buyout market as long as that player wasn’t making more than the mid level exception in the previous year. ($12.8 million)
exactly.
A good (and topical video) might be a quick one about rule differences between the NBA and FIBA
im eating filipino spring rolls while watching this
are those the clear ones that feel like skin?
Everytime youtubers talk about the Salary Cap, I’m just like Chris Pratt in Parks and Recs:
“The economy 🍷”
just nod
Hair looking good as always
it took a while this time.
Yes baseball doesnt have hard cap but it does have a soft cap, similar to the NBA. MLB has a luxury tax with increasing penalties the longer you are above it. There are also surcharges depending how far above the threshold they are.
I gotta look into that. Mets and Dodgers gotta be pushing insane tax bills
Is this a new channel?
I could’ve sworn I’ve been watching you for years now
nah, it's been around for years.
your editing style gave me mad anxiety
sorry
@@whatslaps no worries , I just think maybe a second or two extra on the delay especially when the information is a bit denser. Keep up the good work though!
Title: NBA contracts
I could do something with that.
I am always good to my mother because I love her. Thanks for the reminder bro
call her
@@whatslaps I still live with her since I'm in high school
Hair lookin phenomenal today my guy
Thanks it took a while
7:28 It's so that they can't trade up to get better prospects, or trade down so they can hoard more picks or dump cheap contracts and team control on other teams.
I see.
Man down call the ambalamce tell em breathe bro
I called. they were too late. I died.
"If you think that would make for a noncompetitive league then so would I. Maybe, it is. I don't know. I don't watch baseball." Great quote!
Just checked the A's are bad, but they are not the worst team in baseball.
This one will bang
hope it did.
Aww, Jeffrey lost his glasses. 🤓
it's george kittle now
The Jazz are the most selling team that thinks their buying i've ever seen.
haha, they're the farmers market of the NBA
how tf did 2017 warriors not go over tax line
Cap spike
Thank you for your breakdowns. Your videos get me more invested in the sport of basketball.
context makes the game more interesting.
Just a question, what is stopping a team from going slightly over salary cap (i.e $141,000,000) and not pay the luxury tax.
nothing, but a team would definitely need to spend into the tax to put together a contender.
@@whatslaps So what does the salary cap mean if they can sit in between the cap and the luxury tax. This is the only part of the cba I don’t get.
Will you be watching basketball in the Olympics, Mr. Whatslaps?
nah, I got beef with nationalized citizens playing on whatever team they want.
Video on players who skipped college
the good the bad and the downright ugly. I'll stew.
Haha yeah, apron probably not the best choice of verbiage for that, could have maybe chose something better. Didn’t know that’s how salary cap is established. A professional team spending quadruple the salary as another in the same major league does not seem like a great formula for competitiveness. Kinda funny how the tax line is 30 mil over the cap, doesn’t that kinda technically make the real cap 169 mil? Gotta love loopholes for avoiding getting into too much trouble with money/overpaying stuff. Hahaha that “hooray!” got me 😆. Those first apron buyout/sign and trade things are pretty interesting, didn’t know that how that worked. Second apron stuff is interesting too! Wow, didn’t know these kind of things could help make me a more satisfied fan by being more informed in this way. So the super hyper crazy rich effect how the rules get set, makes sense. Thanks you again dude, always good stuff. You, da, man.
I have a theory that there are more revenue streams than what they're reporting with the BRI. Otherwise the owners would be losing 100s of millions of dollars. I love that Brunson took less money so they could build a better team. A lot of people are clown him, but I think it shows that he cares about more than money. Go Knicks!
Telling us to do our own research?? I like when you spoon feed me the info :(
Alright, but if I'm wrong. don't be nasty.
Top Ten freakiest active players?
maybe some Olympic basketball game content>???
If I make a video about the Olympics y'all better watch it.
It’s weird that the thresholds above the cap are seemingly random. It would make more sense if they were % above each line.
I think they are actually
Vid on weirdest paths to the NBA?
what's an example?
@@whatslaps like how dennis rodman was mopping floors before making it to the draft. i didn’t know if other players had weirder paths. like ive always wondered like how did Quincy acy or jj berea make it the nba.
@@whatslaps
Mark Eaton
Also not technically NBA yet but Zach Edey
@@whatslaps Pretty sure Jimmy Butler was sorta homeless back in the day
I want to remind everybody the only reason the NBA even has a soft salary cap is to make it easier for the Celtics to win championships.
thanks for the reminder, brother!
I’m new here what the deal with Corn Dogs??
Said it once and it stuck. I hate it.
thank you this new salary cap stuff has been confusing
it's ridiculous.
Great vid as usual man, can't wait for the Olympics! Maybe you could do a video about them?
i'll think about it. I'm a little sour on some stuff with international basketball
do you think the nuggets will be a top3 seed next season after losing kcp
yeah, they'll still be good. I say top 5
@@whatslaps your hair is majestic
but who pays the salary if the money comes from the league and the cap is set by evenly dividing the money amongst the teams?
I guess the money comes from the part that the association itself gets.
Because the sixers have a ton of… me: corndogs? Hope you said cap space. Me: shit
Sixer's corndog silos maybe fully stocked as far as I know.
nba salary cap is so complex..
It's complicated but I have to say every rule makes sense and you can kind of understand why it's there.
Never had a corn dog
literally haven't had one since I was 12.
This one for the algorithm
bless
Sound effects overboard
boing!
checkin innnnnnnn
checked.
Freezing picks in the distant future can have adverse effects on a team draft pick flexibility because you can't trade a first round pick 2 years in a row. So, a team that had a 2032 first round pick frozen couldn't trade their 2031 first round pick either and possibly their 2033 pick as well
that's true. I think they're trying to keep you from sabotaging yourself.
I don't think that's it. The Sun's have a top heavy expensive roster with very little draft compensation to begin with, they have a team that tops out at the 2nd round with no roster flexibility, no or diminished draft compensation and little flexibility with that compensation. It's a punishing threshold. It's the league saying we are going to punch in this general area if you want to put your face in that area it's gonna get rocked
Is the reason for the 2032 no trade clause in order to ensure that if a team knows they will be over the 2nd apron that they don’t just trade that pick to another team and burn them with the last pick in the draft? I mean, couldn’t they still do that so long as they trade their draft pick prior to exceeding the 2nd apron?
It's far in the future because you can't trade a pick that far in the future.
@@whatslaps also, what if more than one team qualifies for the 2032 last pick? Do they have a tiebreaker for the race to the bottom with whoever exceeded it more? This going over budget this sure is fun!
I was eating a corn dog and being good to my mama. That’s why I’m 36 mins late to the new vid. Apologies
Forgiven.
they don't lower contracts they pay whoever they want🤦
😮
Give me the NHL salary cap any day...
Hard cap?
@@whatslaps And it's much simpler to navigate, too... teams might retain portions of cap hits in a trade, though.
Your editing is a visual representation of my mind working
haha is that a good thing?
Embiid can’t play for Cameroon he isn’t a citizen anymore, Cameroon don’t have dual citizenship
He should have kept his Cameroonian citizenship. He forgot where he came from smh
would you rather keep a smaller community so you can reply to everyone or a million subs
come on, man. option b. these replies are exhausting af.
@@whatslaps 🤣
who’s winning the ring this season?
Boston back to back
Idk the salary cap is so high yet viewership is the lowest its been in a while
agreed. I think it's international interest.
Cookout needs to give you a NIL deal 😂
what's cookout?
@@whatslaps fast food restaurant
LongHairSlaps ❤
bout time for a shave.
Baseball is able to get away with such gaps between team spending because baseball is a far more luck dependent sport then basketball. You have to have skill but the luck aspect of baseball makes it so that a mid level player can have a better day then a superstar any given game in basketball if Norris cole out plays bron even 1 game it's impressive in baseball Alex verdugo having a vetter game then Juan Soto happens ones a week just due to the way baseball Is played and each player only gets one bat every 9 batters
that's interesting. I would for sure watch a video on that.
Huh?
Idk
I like all of the videos you make I think they are great but I don’t like how the videos are made so you can easily clip them to put them on TikTok or that’s what it seems like
interesting. I've actually considered breaking them up into segments with an interstitial to make them more easy to clip.
First🎉
gold