NBA-ийн драфт ба санхүүгийн хязгаарлалт

So … that’s it?

One of the most anticipated drafts in NBA history came to a fairly underwhelming crescendo on Tuesday night, as the first eight picks were chalk, and no trades were made until the Memphis Grizzlies were on the clock at 16.

If it weren’t for Dallas reaching for Morez Johnson at No. 9 when Brayden Burries was sitting there for them, we’d have hardly anything to comment on. Where are the New Orleans Pelicans when you need them to liven things up?

Surely this entire class will make news once we get to the Las Vegas Summer League, the regular season and beyond. There’s a lot to unpack: Each of the top four picks found relatively ideal fits, eight point guards went between No. 5 and No. 22 and all eight have starter upside, the Charlotte Hornets are ready to take over the league, the San Antonio Spurs will never have enough centers and nobody is sure what the Brooklyn Nets are doing.

We’ll get to all that, I promise. I always like to see how the second round plays out before I start passingjudgment, and it gives us an extra day to marinate on everything that happened on Day 1 (quite a bit if the Giannis AntetokounmpoandJulius Randle trades that preceded our main event are included).

Instead, I want to talk about the last hour of the draft, and the big winner of the day’s festivities: the second apron.

In the absence of any blockbuster trades, what stands out Tuesday is all the moves the league’s more expensive teams made to duck the minor salary obligations that come with a pick in the 20s and the underlying reason.

However, salary wasn’t the only story here. Thanks to NIL dollars keeping most underclassmen not projected in the top 20 in school, we had a proverbial cliff around the 25th pick in the draft. All the teams in front of that point likely left the draft feeling good about themselves. After that, all bets were off. The second round should be more of the same, so get ready for some blind-darts stuff in the last 15 picks especially.

Nonetheless, New York, Denver, Minnesota and Cleveland began Monday owning picks 24, 26, 28 and 29, respectively. All four ended the first round with no players but a clutch of second-round picks.

Sure, the pickings were getting slim in the mid-20s. But, as always, follow the money.

New York owed the 24th pick approximately $3.37 million. After trading down with the Los Angeles Lakers and then with the Dallas Mavericks, the Knicks ended up with the 47th pick. The player they select there can take up a spot at the end of the bench for $1.36 million, a nearly $2 million savings.

Why does that matter? Because the defending champs seem determined to stay below the second apron and avoid the “frozen” draft picks and other limitations that come with exceeding that barrier. That extra $2 million could be the difference between re-signing Landry Shamet or having access to the taxpayer midlevel exception to replace Mitchell Robinson if his price gets too steep.

For instance, if the Knicks re-sign Mo Diawara to a minimum deal (which would be for less than the veteran’s minimum), use picks Nos. 47 and 55 on second-rounders who make the bare rookie minimum of $1.36 million (and only count for that number — unlike undrafted players, who are treated as veteran minimum signings for apron and tax purposes) and Jose Alvarado opts out of his $4.5 million contract (as expected), it would leave the Knicks with $16 million below the second apron and three open roster spots.

If New York uses the $6.37 million taxpayer exception on another center, New York has $9.4 million left for two players. If one of them is for the $2.45 million veteran’s minimum (perhaps for third center Ariel Hukporti or beloved vet Jordan Clarkson), that would leave $7 million for Shamet … whom my BORD$ system values at $6.95 million.

Other possible endgames exist for New York, but you get the idea from my example: That $2 million might really matter (New York, I should note, also owns the 31st pick in the draft, but that too seems likely to be traded; pick 31 typically receives well in excess of the $1.358 million minimum).

Those same differences likely motivated the Wolves, Nuggets and Cavs, albeit for slightly different reasons in each case.

For Minnesota and Denver, it was likely financial at some level; cutting their luxury tax calculation by $2 million could save them close to $10 million on the bottom line (due to forgone luxury tax penalties), depending on where the payroll lands at year-end.

Minnesota dipped from No. 28 to No. 33. It saved a potential $1.7 million on their cap number as part of a much larger salary restructuring that saw them dump Julius Randle’s contract on the Nets, cutting $33.3 million in payroll.

The Wolves have paid luxury tax the past two seasons and have no visions of a three-peat, sitting a comfy $26 million below the tax line after the dust settled Tuesday night. They’ll use that room to fill five empty roster spots, but you’ve got better odds of seeing Sasquatch than you do of seeing the Wolves pay the tax this season.

Denver went from No. 26 to No. 35 (and indulged the Spurs’ compulsion to stock the bench with as many centers as possible) to change a $3.17 million salary to $1.36 million, dropping $1.8 million off the Nuggets’ cap number.

For Denver, as with New York, the likely line in the sand is the second apron, because the Nuggets probably need access to their nontaxpayer midlevel exception to either sign a backup center or re-sign Tim Hardaway Jr.

The Nuggets are in a financial pickle due to Peyton Watson’s restricted free agency, the lack of a backup center they trust and the fact that a couple other players they’d like to keep (Spencer Jones, Bruce Brown, Hardaway) are also hitting free agency. They only have Bird rights on Jones and Watson.

Denver can waive Jonas Valančiūnas and stretch his $2 million guarantee to lop $9.4 million off its cap sheet, but that still leaves the Nuggies $9.5 million from the second apron, even if they use No. 35 and No. 49 on rookies whom they pay the bare minimum.

Do the math, and they can only use $4.7 million of their taxpayer midlevel exception on a center even if the other two spots are for the veteran’s minimum … and that’s before they pay Watson or Jones.

Denver will have to make further cuts beyond this, likely involving moving contracts such as those of Christian Braun ($21.6 million owed this year) or Cam Johnson ($22.5 million). But once again, you can see how the seemingly small dollar difference between No. 26 and No. 35 is likely to matter for the Nuggets (it should also be noted that the Nuggets face an onerous repeater penalty as well after finishing over the tax each of the past three seasons, which alone makes the draft pick swap worth about $14 million to their bottom line).

Which takes us to our last example, Cleveland. The Cavs had the most expensive roster in the league last season and are even more desperate than their rivals to avoid the second apron, because their 2033 draft pick is frozen until they go three of the next four years under it.

The bad news is that Cleveland entered the draft still $2.9 million over that bar, even with three open roster spots. Reworking James Harden’s contract might get back several million, but the Cavs are still stuck in a tight spot, especially with defensive stopper Dean Wade hitting free agency.

By trading the 29th pick to the Kings for No. 34 and a future second-round pick, Cleveland cut a $3.04 million obligation to a potential $1.36 million salary (second-round contracts are negotiated with no salary scale, and picks in the 30s often get more than the bare minimum). Don’t be surprised if the Cavs and Nuggets trade back a few more spots on Wednesday to get to a more comfortable place to offer the rookie minimum.

Without trading a player, the Cavs could now re-sign Harden to a $35 million salary and land $6.4 million below the second apron, then use two veteran minimum slots ($2.45 million each) to fill out the roster. That still costs them Wade unless they trade another player (or stretch Dennis Schröder’s contract), but at least now they have a template for how it’s possible to avoid the apron without other moves.

Again, the $1.7 million salary difference between No. 29 and No. 34 looms large.

So take a bow, second apron: You win this round. It’s possible we won’t see a single team exceed it this season, given that two of the most likely candidates, New York and Cleveland, essentially tipped their hand that they won’t be doing so.

Oklahoma City, the other strong possibility, already salary-dumped guard Aaron Wiggins this week and seems likely to move on from at least two other players (keep an eye on Isaiah Joe and Lu Dort) to wriggle back under that line.

We’ll have plenty of time to talk about the players who were selected Tuesday. Although I don’t see a Victor Wembanyama in this group, this could be an all-time class for the depth of talent.

However, on a draft night that saw no explosive trades or big surprises near the top of the board, we have a very different short-term takeaway. Unexpectedly, the second apron became draft day’s most important story.