LAS VEGAS — NBA Cup finalists have different styles of play. And how they spend their money.
Tuesday night’s championship game between Milwaukee and Oklahoma City in Las Vegas pits the Bucks and Thunder on both sides of the NBA’s second tarmac — a threshold once crossed , would limit how teams can trade or sign players — and the Thunder are below that. First apron.
From the perspective of NBA commissioner Adam Silver, that might be appropriate.
“I think it’s a good thing with the new (collective bargaining agreement),” Silver told reporters Tuesday before the NBA Cup Championship Game. “At the same time, there’s a correlation between success on the pitch and spending – that’s the reason behind the second apron. We’re not trying to hide any secrets from it.”
The apron will certainly limit how some teams can make trades in the coming months. Earlier this season, when Minnesota and New York were trying to finalize a deal that would send Karl-Anthony Towns to the Knicks, Timberwolves president of basketball operations Tim Connelly said the new CBA rules would be difficult to navigate .
“Frankly, some of the consequences of the new rules … are unintended,” Connelly said this fall. “I don’t know if anyone intended for the action to be that challenging, trading when you’re on top of some apron.”
Silver reiterated that the league knows what some of the new challenges are.
“I understand the frustration of some general managers because especially if you go over the apron, we reduce your flexibility,” Silver said Tuesday. “But that’s really the purpose of the second apron, the goal is to better distribute star talent across the league. I think we’ve been successful in that.”
The league’s position is that teams in big markets and spending big can win, and teams in small markets and spending less can do the same. Milwaukee is one of four teams currently on the second apron, along with Boston, Phoenix and Minnesota.
“There are many ways to win,” Silver said.
The NBA Cup will return next season. The question is whether the NBA Cup will return to Las Vegas.
The NBA’s new broadcast deal will begin next season, with one of the league’s new partners – Amazon – set to broadcast the tournament’s knockout games. But the venue for the 2025 championship has yet to be determined.
“There are teams that have shown some interest in playing in their home market,” Silver said. “Arranging a neutral site is complicated enough. I have no objection to trading on our market.
The question, he said, is “…if we wanted to take this seriously, how would that work from a scheduling standpoint?”
The other side of the coin is that the league loved the reception the event had in Las Vegas during its first two years.
“You start building traditions, you have a lot of fans and they can circle those dates on their calendars and plan to come to Las Vegas and plan a vacation around it,” Silver said. “I think teams are on both sides. I think they like the idea of a chance to win a home game. But you’ve got to move tickets in the short term. We’ve had some experience doing that in the playoffs, but this one is a little different.”
