Knicks - NY hasn’t adopted this team in the same way they adored last year’s group. Something about having real expectations isn’t as endearing as being the upstart. Get over it NY. Kat won game 4 for you. Brunson wins game 6. Knicks in round 2.

Clips - put it all together and force Game 7. Nic Batum does this once a year. Once a year he dusts off his knees and is a contributing factor in the playoffs. Incredible. Now, they rely on James Harden on the road in a Game 7. Good luck.

A’s, Royals, Rays - gotta check in on them at some point. Two of these three play in minor league stadiums, but the A’s sit surprisingly at 17-15 after a 3-0 win over the Rangers. Royals beat the Rays 8-2 in Florida.

Let’s take a minute to talk tax codes. Finally, Politics in this newsletter! Cool your jets Ted Cruz. Today, we’re breaking down the NBA’s luxury tax and infamous Second Apron.

The NFL salary cap is fake. Baseball legally has no cap (someone please tell the Yankees this). The NBA luxury tax is beyond the most convoluted and most definitely the worst. That’s an opinion statement. A judgement. What makes it so bad? In the last round of CBA negotiations, the league asked itself: what are we going to do about free spending owners (Warriors/Lacob and Clippers/Balmer), who blow past the luxury tax limit? Answer: just create a second limit and tax the shit out of them (plus restrict a ton of roster flexibility, we’ll get into this). No need to correct structural issues. Forget ethical or strategic questions. Just slap another limit on these Boys and call it a day. Pathetic.

The Second Apron is causing middle-school teen level Angst amongst owners. Here’s a list of the top 6 tax spending teams:

- Suns (sold 2023)

- Twolves (sold 2021/2025)

- Celtics (sold 2024)

- Lakers

- Knicks

- Bucks (sold 2023)

What do we notice about 4 of those top 6? Say it with me, say it loud. They all just sold! Owners are getting out the frick out! Here’s former Bucks co-owner Marc Lasry:

“That was a factor,” Lasry told FOS. “I’m not going to tell you it wasn’t. I thought it was going to cost a lot to keep the team. That was one factor. I think the second is the team was getting older, and would Giannis stay? And so I thought it was going to be hard to recapture everything and to do everything. So I sort of looked at it like now may be a good time.”

The Bucks ran a $182m payroll and paid $32m in tax on top of that. The Wolves payroll sits at $202m and owe $92m in tax. A $20m difference in payroll generates a $62m difference in taxes. Difference: Wolves are over the Second Apron.

That’s all just money talk. Teams face real roster construction issues if they exist over the second limit. Most notably, they lose the ability to use the Mid-Level Exception. This exception helps team sign one quality free agent each summer to add, fill a need, or keep a team together. The teams crashing out in the first round of the playoffs (Lakers) are the unbalanced rosters, but teams like the Celtics, Wolves, and Knicks are going to face impossible choices in summers ahead trying to fill gaps as their own quality players contracts expire. The League could bifurcate into half-rosters (get a center LA) and real squads (Thunder, until the bill comes due). What can be done? Hope that your owner doesn’t trade away all his first round picks for Kevin Durant, find one or two guys in the second round, and pay that tax for as long as you can.