NEW YORK — If the Nets aren’t making a move that firmly puts them back in the championship hunt, they will have to make some difficult decisions to ensure they do not broach the second apron, a new addition to the collective bargaining agreement that stiffens penalties for teams with an exorbitant payroll.
Teams that spend in excess of $180 million in player salaries this season — like the Phoenix Suns, and their new core four of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Deandre Ayton — will be met with severe roster-building handicaps with implications that span multiple seasons.
The handicaps include the inability to trade a draft pick seven years out, the inability to use a mid-level exception, the inability to receive more incoming salary than outgoing in a trade, and the inability to sign a player whose contract worth $12.2 million or more was bought-out.
