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The NBA’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) is back in the limelight after a shocking offseason for some teams. Now, one NBA champion has stepped forward with a blunt message that has become viral.
Kyle Kuzma, who won a title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020, emphasizes that the situation needs to be addressed as soon as possible.
NBA Champion Kyle Kuzma Raises Red Flags About the Current CBA, Urges Players’ Association to Act
Kuzma particularly questioned the first and second aprons, punitive restrictions that have played major roles in how teams have built their rosters.
“The new CBA was sold as parity, but the first and second apron are starting to function like a hard cap on player value, team continuity, and player movement.”
“Teams are no longer making purely basketball decisions. They’re making fear-based apron decisions. That means good players get squeezed, homegrown cores get broken up, fan-favorite teams lose their identity, and the overall product loses some of the nostalgia and continuity that made people fall in love with the NBA in the first place.”
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“… We understand that the NBA is a business… Too often, it feels like players are informed after the fact instead of being truly educated and empowered before decisions are made. That cannot continue.”
“The next CBA is a do or die moment for us as players. It’s only going to get worse for us. We need transparency, accountability, and a serious re-evaluation of who is representing us and how they are representing us,” Kuzma tweeted.
The current CBA took effect at the start of the 2023-24 NBA season and will last through the 2029-30 campaign, with both sides having opt-out rights after the 2028-29 season ends.
Both the first and second aprons were created under the 2023 CBA, though the second apron’s full restrictions weren’t phased in until the 2024 offseason
This season, the NBA set a salary cap of $164.961 million. Teams that hit $200.4 million enter the luxury tax level, while at $209 million, the first apron comes in. The even second apron awaits teams that breach the $221.7 million mark.
Crossing either apron brings significant penalties and restrictions, making long-term team building difficult.
The Boston Celtics are the best examples of how the punishing apron penalties can affect a team. After winning the championship in 2024, they blew up their core in the summer of 2025 to shed salaries.
Draymond Green reacted to the Celtics’ move in his podcast, saying that “these moves are being made to dodge that second apron.”
Green already foresaw what was going to happen. He predicted that the aprons are “going to hurt the players in the end.”
The four-time NBA champ added that this is a scenario that will happen in the NBA “for years to come because that’s just the way that this CBA works, so you’ll see this happen over and over again.”
Kuzma is seeing that trend continue this offseason.
The NBA community also reacted to the New York Knicks’ decision not to re-sign backup center Mitchell Robinson because team governor James Dolan strictly prohibited his team from going into the second apron.
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According to some analysts, the Boston Celtics traded Jaylen Brown to the Philadelphia 76ers to have more flexibility in retooling their roster. With a year less in Paul George’s contract and first-round draft picks included, Boston has more wiggle room after the shocking trade.
The NBPA can opt out of the CBA in October 2028.
Until then, the players can air out their discontent and frustrations, but must abide by the agreement.
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