NBA Exec Calls CBA 'Great,' Says It 'Prioritizes Good Management and Good Leadership'

One NBA executive is a big fan of the collective bargaining agreement, calling it "great" for the league.

"This CBA is great for the NBA," the executive told ESPN's Tim Bontemps and Brian Windhorst, "because it prioritizes good management and good leadership. If you don't have that, you're quickly going to be stuck with a bad team."

The new CBA went into effect on July 1, 2023, and it will run through the 2029-30 season.

The big talking point surrounding the new CBA has been the second apron. In essence, the league has a salary cap, and then a luxury tax if a team goes far enough over the cap. But then teams are penalized if they go over the tax enough to hit a first apron and then a second apron.

The penalties for hitting the second apron are particularly punitive. Keith Smith of Spotrac broke it all down.

The league employs a "soft" salary cap, meaning teams can go over the cap level, especially to retain their own players. But going over the cap is too much for teams to stomach now.

As far as the executive's opinion goes, it isn't universally held. The Ringer's Bill Simmons called it an "apocalypse."

“It’s one of the worst things I can remember in any pro sports league,” Simmons said. “You have good teams sabotaging themselves because they’re afraid of these penalties. I don’t know who asked for this.”

The Boston Celtics, led by president of basketball operations Brad Stevens, notably just traded Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porziņģis, two key members of their 2024 title team. With those moves, the C's ducked under the second apron.

“I think the second apron basketball penalties are real, and I’m not sure I understood how real until they were staring me in the face in the last month,” Stevens said after the first round of Wednesday’s NBA Draft," per Jared Weiss of The Athletic. “So I do think that that can’t be overstated.”