Does the second apron hurt the NBA and its fans? | No salary cap

Yahoo Sports senior NBA reporter Jake Fischer and senior NBA writer Dan Devine discuss the second apron in the NBA’s collective bargaining agreement and its impact on and off the court. Listen to the full conversation on “No Cap Room” — part of the “Ball Don’t Lie” podcast — and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you listen.

Video Transcript

The second apron.

So the idea is to make it so that your super-rich ownership groups can’t just say, “Oh well.”

Yeah right.

I will pay all possible financial penalties.

Who cares?

Because he will always have access to what we want to do.

I guess the question I have is: It’s not coming from the players, is it?

It was the owners who were saying, ‘Let’s put these restrictions in place even more draconian’ and ‘Let’s do this for the sake of, I guess, greater parody, of equal opportunity.’

It’s also like trying to make the rules harder to build team spirit, to be a more compelling and competitive challenge, which I kind of agree with in some ways.

I wonder if, when people look at this and say, “I don’t understand what this thing is, why this exists and why I have to wonder, when I look at this, why can’t my team bring this guy back or why can’t the team that I support sign this guy?”

Because in seven years, his choice could be frozen.

I wonder if this aggregates or resonates to ultimately feel like a negative experience from a fan’s perspective.

CB A was not created for fans and perhaps that is something that should be considered more.

I think everyone making decisions about the overall structure of the NBA’s business landscape would be better served if they viewed the NBA more as a television product rather than a reality TV show.

It’s something they’re trying to get people to engage with more, much like Bravo is building a universe out of Vanderpump Rules and their housewives stories.

I don’t think they need it, it’s, it’s, the problem is they need to be reality TV stars.

I think the problem is that if they wear seven different uniforms over the course of a 15-year career, it’s hard to get emotionally invested in them.