{"id":4809,"date":"2026-07-12T08:33:27","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T08:33:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4809"},"modified":"2026-07-12T08:33:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T08:33:27","slug":"nbpa-executive-director-david-kelly-says-second-apron-hurts-players-teams-and-fans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4809","title":{"rendered":"NBPA executive director David Kelly says second apron hurts players, teams, and fans"},"content":{"rendered":"<article>\n<div>\n<p><span>LAS VEGAS \u2014 Celtics majority governor Bill Chisholm lamented last week the impact of the second salary cap apron on his team in recent years, and his sentiments were shared Friday by new NBA players association executive director David Kelly.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4807\">Aidan Emmerich heats up in afternoon to win 118th Massachusetts Amateur<\/a><\/p>\n<p><span>In his first official media session since being named head of the NBPA in February, Kelly mentioned the Celtics situation \u2014 including their moving of Jaylen Brown for salary reasons \u2014 among his issues with the new collective bargaining agreement.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<p><span>While the trade may also have included basketball concerns, president of basketball operations Brad Stevens said a potential Brown extension and its soaking up 35 percent of the team\u2019s salary cap was impractical if the Celtics wanted to continue to keep a championship-level roster. Stevens said Brown and Jayson Tatum extensions would consume 70 percent of their payroll.<\/span><\/p>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><span>Get Starting Point<\/span><\/div>\n<div><span>A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday.<\/span><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><label>Enter Email<\/label><\/p>\n<div><button>Sign Up<\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><span>In the summer of 2025, the Celtics traded Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis and allowed Al Horford and Luke Kornet to leave via free agency to clear the second apron, which limits teams from making certain trades, signing free agents, and aggregating salaries for deals.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It has become an undesirable place financially for NBA teams, and it was one of the primary motivators in the breakup of the 2024 championship team.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWhat we are seeing is guys not being able to sign where they want to play, and teams having to break up their team because of the second apron,\u201d Kelly said Friday. \u201cSo where a guy like Jrue Holiday is making the same amount of money, but he\u2019s no longer making it in Boston, Porzingis, Jaylen, like these sorts of things. You have a team that just came off of a championship to not have those guys together. We see that as a problem for our members, but also for the fans and for the game.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The NBPA has an opt-out clause in the current CBA in 2029. It appears that Kelly, who worked as a general counsel for the Warriors for 13 years, and the NBPA board are concerned with the impact of the aprons despite players having unprecedented financial wealth.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>The players association will seek to address the apron system before they potentially opt out of their agreement with the owners.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI would hope so,\u201d Kelly said. \u201cI think it needs to be addressed. Depends on whether or not the league feels it needs to be addressed, and they feel the same sort of pressure that it needs to be addressed that they felt around the draft because of the tanking issue. We will come with our ideas, and there also often are, like, midterm negotiations in which things get tweaked. If we can get some tweaks, that will be fantastic. If not, then we\u2019ll have to wait until the till \u201929 or \u201930.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4805\">Wellesley\u2019s Michael Thorbjornsen, Matt Fitzpatrick atop leaderboard as fog delays Scottish Open<\/a><\/p>\n<div><span>Related<span>: <\/span><\/span>How can an aging Paul George contribute to the Celtics? If healthy, the return for Jaylen Brown can be a deep threat.<\/div>\n<p><span>Stevens brought up an interesting idea during his press conference last week, that if Brown\u2019s salary only counted as 25 percent of the cap instead of 35, the Celtics may not have needed to trade him. There could be a concept where players \u2014 like Brown, who was drafted by the Celtics \u2014 could count less against the cap as their career progresses as an incentive for drafting well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Kelly agreed.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cPlayers getting paid X, but the cap hit is X minus Y. We think that makes sense,\u201d he said. \u201cWe actually think that makes sense around some certain issues around a second apron, whether it\u2019s drafted players, whether it\u2019s like a (Larry) Bird exception for certain players around the second apron, the ability to keep teams together, I think, will help fan interest and will help still allow for player movement, but allow players to have the decision of staying where they want to stay.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<div><span>Related<span>: <\/span><\/span>Victor Wembanyama, Spurs agree on five-year, $250 million deal<\/div>\n<p><span>When asked about Brown\u2019s situation, in which the Celtics made clear they had no interest in signing him to a two-year, $142 million extension that he had earned, Kelly said teams moving away from homegrown players because of financial reasons is not good for fan bases.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWhen I was at the Warriors, one of the best moments there was actually going to Boston during the [2022] Finals and being around some of those fans, and it was the most rabid fan base,\u201d he said. \u201cThey care, and to have a story of these two guys [Brown and Tatum] getting drafted, and [people saying] they can\u2019t play together, and then they play together and they win a championship, they bring a championship to that city and that environment with all of that pressure, and to not be able to keep them together because of the system is a problem.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cIt\u2019s a problem for the fan base. It\u2019s a problem, and to me, it puts in focus the issues with the system. So that will be a focus going into the next CBA negotiation is how do we make sure that whatever system we\u2019re putting in place does not hurt fan interest and hurt players for the extent of, or to the benefit of some sort of cost control for certain number of owners.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cWe have to negotiate better exceptions to that second apron and soften that apron that would allow teams to be able to dip over in certain circumstances for a player like Jaylen Brown.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>While the players are experiencing exponentially higher salaries than their predecessors because of league growth and the television contracts, Kelly wanted to emphasize that all is not well.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u201cI don\u2019t know that fans in Boston will say that everyone\u2019s making out fine,\u201d he said.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Read more <a href=\"https:\/\/bostonrelocationinsider.com\/?p=4803\">Senator Lindsey Graham has died after a brief and unexpected illness, his office says<\/a><\/p>\n<div><span>Related<span>: <\/span><\/span>Jaylen Brown trade far from alone in the annals of \u2018obviously unpopular\u2019 Boston deals, and other thoughts<\/div>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> The NBA financial system is forcing teams to breakup rosters, Kelly believes<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4808,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4809","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sport"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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