The NBA’s more punitive salary cap system under the 2023 collective bargaining agreement has made team-building more perilous for any single bad decision and also has placed a greater importance on depth.
“I think the copycat nature of the league will try to have teams focusing more on depth and having balance and a ‘next man up’ sort of mentality,” an Eastern Conference scout said. “From that perspective, there’s some validity to it, especially in this cap environment with the aprons … it’s so hard. The whole ‘Big 3’ thing is hard to pull off, for obvious reasons.
“Taking up such a big percentage of your cap with those limitations on top of it, when you get close to the aprons, it is just really difficult to build a great team.”
The new system has impacted free agency departures over the past two offseasons from Paul George leaving the Los Angeles Clippers to Ty Jerome exiting the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“You have to be right on every decision,” one Western Conference scout said. “Now, you have to look at things in not a one-year window, but a three-year window. You literally can’t mess anything up. It puts pressure on the organization to think differently and smartly to make sure you are best-positioned to make the right decisions.”
The Oklahoma City Thunder have the luxury of a Big 3 in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, along with excellent depth.
“The fact Isaiah Joe and Jaylin Williams can’t get on the floor [for Oklahoma City] speaks to just how deep they are,” the East scout said. “Those guys would play a ton for most teams.”
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