🧐What does it look soft but actually is hard? Yes, it s the second rich line

Translator's note: This article was originally published from The Athletic, and the author is Fred Katz. The data in the article are as of the original article as of June 28, local time. The views in the article have nothing to do with the translator and the platform.

The tax prospects of a team suddenly became confusing. A player contract once again became the center of vortex of contradictory information. The entire NBA league is trying hard to avoid a "ghost".

Let's open the notepad and explore several major topics that are eye-catching as the offseason arrives.

How will the Indiana Pacers deal with their luxury tax dilemma? The Pacers were ready for an expensive season with a team record.

League sources say their journey in the Eastern Conference — even before seven games that miraculously reached the Finals — is enough to make the team willing to pay luxury taxes for the first time in two decades. Indiana's total salary is about to climb to unprecedented heights.

However, NBA life changes very quickly.

Until shortly after the NBA Finals Game 7 kicked off, the Pacers remained a favorite candidate for the Eastern Conference champion next season. They are ready to pay a luxury tax for it. But then, the team's core team, Teres Halliburton, suffered a serious injury from a torn Achilles tendon.

league sources said that as the competitive outlook for next season is shattered, the Pacers are still deciding how to deal with their financial future.

Are they keeping everyone together and paying luxury taxes for the 2025-26 season? Or do you do one or two cost-cutting operations when Halliburton is absent and the team will find it difficult to achieve something next season? The Pacers have 10 players in the contract period in the 2025-26 season. Their salary alone puts them just $20 million away from the luxury tax line. The 10 people do not include long-term starting center Miles Turner, who will become a free agent on June 30. Even if he re-signs on a contract that is much lower than the market value (like $18 million a year, which is slightly less than his current income and is not very realistic), his new contract will put Indiana in the luxury tax ranks.

Imagine a reference case where Turner can fight for a big pay raise: Last summer, Jarrett Allen renewed his contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers, with a starting salary of $30 million. But in this year's second round of playoff series, Turner's performance significantly surpassed Allen. The Oklahoma City Thunder gave Isaiah Haltenstein a $28.5 million salary in the 2024-25 season. Clarkston renewed his contract with the Brooklyn Nets last July and made $25.3 million in the past season. On Friday, Naz Reed and the Minnesota Timberwolves reached a five-year, $125 million contract.

This is the market for centers, and this position is making a comeback. Turner, a center who can shoot three-pointers and defend, has a very scarce skill set within the league.

Although other teams may not offer huge offers to Turner, if such a contract does appear, it may prompt the Pacers to give up the match and give up bringing it back. But most teams with considerable salary space this summer lack competitiveness and will not spend a lot of money on a top role player. If the Pacers choose to drop below the luxury tax line, they can still renew the big man and clear the salary space through other channels.

Jares Walker will earn $6.7 million next season. Mathering (eligible for renewal of a new contract this summer) will earn $9.2 million next season. Obi Topin will earn $14 million next season.

or the Pacers can bet on themselves, choose to enter the luxury tax range, and fully maintain the core lineup that has just entered the finals. They can work hard to stay competitive in the Eastern Conference with overall decline in strength in 2026, and then return with a healthy Halliburton and a young core roster the following season.

Indiana is still deciding on its own path.

Is the "second tyrant line" just one step away from becoming an unofficial hard salary cap?

Denver Nuggets owner Josh Kroenke just had a tough week.

In discussing the restrictions of a team that breaks through the second tycoon line—a team that is far beyond the luxury tax line, and the team on the hat will be strictly restricted—the salary threshold for transaction types—Kronk said what most fans think is taboo: He puts a three-time MVP winner Nikola Jokic in the same sentence as the word "trade".

"For us as a team, entering the second rich line is not necessarily something we are afraid of," Kroenke told the reporters present. "But I think the rules around it require us to deal with the team's injury history very carefully. Once an important player is injured, you will soon fall into a situation I would never imagine - that is, trading No. 15 player (Jokic). "

"We are highly alert to this and will provide resources within our ability at critical moments. But the second rich line - is it a hard salary cap? I am not 100% sure. But it is an important consideration for each team to know."

The outside world's reaction to Kroenke's confession is not friendly.

Jokic is recognized as the best player in the NBA. How could a team boss—especially known for being stingy— mention the possibility of trading the greatest star in team history simply because he hits a certain salary threshold? Such a prudent act should only happen to the poorest team!

The answer is that the second rich line - although it does bring huge luxury taxes when triggered, it has a lot more to do with extra money.

Kronk's original intention is not to imply that he is willing to trade Jokic in the future no matter how the lineup changes. Instead, it means that the current labor-management agreement has created a reality: decision-making power is not always in the hands of the team, and sometimes the rules make choices for the team..

Teams that are deeply trapped above the second rich line should be ready to win immediately - and win now, otherwise the consequences will be worrying.

Teams whose salary exceeds the second rich line (207.8 million in the 2025-26 season) will face multiple restrictions: they cannot sign free agents at a higher amount than the base salary, and certain types of players are not eligible to join even if they accept the lowest offer; the salary received in the transaction shall not be higher than the salary given; the future draft picks will be frozen; the transaction exception will be cancelled. In essence, all the ways to strengthen the team are blocked.

First of all, being in the second rich line means the continuous loss of resources.

Just as Kroenke held a press conference, a related lineup disintegration was taking place on the other end of the United States.

Boston Celtics - This team, which is only one year away from winning the championship, traded core players Zhu Holiday and Porzingis just a few months after star Jason Tatum suffered a devastating Achilles tendon injury. This move is purely due to financial considerations, as the team is worried about breaking through the second rich line in the 2025-26 season.

Considering that Tatum is almost certain to be reimbursed next season, the Celtics, which just failed in the second round of the playoffs, can no longer bear to be on the second rich line for another season. So they traded a starter. Shortly after the Kroenke press conference, they sent another starter, Porzingis, to the Atlanta Hawks, which was also a financial-only operation.

The Celtics have now left the second rich line. But they have also become a weaker basketball team and are no longer part of the top Eastern Conference group. An injury - as Kroenke warned about his team - forced them to make a choice they would never consider if they only had to focus on the basketball itself without worrying about building the labor-management circle that accompanies the NBA championship lineup.

When the league and the Players' Union first announced the labor-cap agreement in 2023, discussions about the second rich line acting as an unofficial hard salary cap followed, and Kroenke also alluded to this concept. The Nuggets made abnormal financial decisions during this period. For example, they are the only team to use the mini middle class special case in the past few offseasons - giving Reggie Jackson in 2023 and Salic in 2024. They regretted both signings: to get rid of Jackson, they took a bunch of second-round picks, and witnessed Saric's sluggish form last season. At the same time, they always wandered carefully between the two rich lines.

The Nuggets know better than most teams: compared with the previous labor-management agreement, at present, the expensive lineup can no longer afford to make mistakes in limited operational opportunities.

But the Nuggets are not the only team that looks at the second rich line from this perspective.

The Cavaliers may only have one team above the second rich line in the 2025-26 season. If Cleveland misses a substantial breakthrough again next season's playoffs, they will face the same choices from other teams in the league.

The original intention of this labor-management agreement is to promote a reshuffle of the pattern, and the alliance is eager for a balanced competition. It is achieving this goal. But balance also means that extremely successful teams find it difficult to maintain a stable lineup for a long time. The rules are running according to the design intentions, and although fans may be unhappy with Kroenke's way of expressing reality, he is not the only one who holds this idea.