The perspective of NBA front offices on second- and third-tier stars has changed dramatically following the implementation of its current collective bargaining agreement with a more punitive set of penalties for teams who are above the first and second apron. The calculus has changed on what teams are prepared to give up in trade for players beyond the likes of Luka Doncic and Giannis Antetokounmpo.
“The trend in the league right now is depth and flexibility are valued more than sort of star talent,” said Brian Windhorst on The Ryen Russillo Show. “Now, superstar talent, there’s always a demand. If you’re going to put Luka on the market, that’s a trade that’s going to get done. If Giannis comes to market, it’s still an ‘if’, whether it’s this season of next summer, a trade will get done.
“There’s this collection of players out there who are big on salary and a lot of them have some red mark on their CV. Whether it’s an injury history, or maybe their age. Or they want a new contract. These are guys who you would have no problem trading two or three years ago, but because of the realities of the aprons and the way teams are prioritizing depth and team-building in the apron era, it’s going to be harder to trade them.
“It used to be when you tried to do a midseason trade, [it was] can we get the salaries to match? That’s a whole thing fans learned. I watched it happen over a course of 20 years… the Trade Machine. Fans learned how to use the Trade Machine. And learned how you need to have some level of matching salaries. I watched fans really get a lot smarter. It’s one of the things fans love to do. Fans love to with their friends or on social media, they like the challenge of going into the Trade Machine that not only was legal, but might actually be possible.”
Because of the trade restrictions associated with the aprons, it is even more complicated for players on significant salaries to be dealt during the middle of the season.
Windhorst has previously reported that the current expectation around the league is that the trade market for a player such as Anthony Davis is tepid compared to what a player of his age and talent would have fetched just a few years ago before the current CBA was passed.