WHY YOU DON’T WANT YOUR TEAM TO GO OVER THE APRON: I feel like a lot of people don’t fully understand why fans are hesitant about their team going over the second apron. It’s not simply: “Who cares? Just pay the money. The owner is rich.” That’s not how the NBA works. The second apron isn’t just about paying more tax. It comes with restrictions that can make it harder to BUILD and IMPROVE your roster. • You lose access to certain salary-cap tools. • Your ability to make certain trades becomes more restricted. • You have fewer ways to add talent around your expensive players. • You can’t just keep throwing money at the roster and assume you’ll always be able to fix whatever goes wrong. And this is the part I think people miss: Going over the second apron can make sense if you have a championship team you truly believe is worth locking in. But you better be damn sure. Because once you’re there, you’re giving yourself less flexibility to make changes later. So when people say: “Why doesn’t Dolan just go into his pockets and pay KAT?” It’s not that simple. Of course the owner can spend money. But the NBA’s CBA puts restrictions on what you can do with that roster once you’re operating above certain thresholds. You’re not just paying a bigger bill. You’re accepting a different set of rules. And THAT is why I’d rather the Knicks be smart about how they build this team instead of just paying everybody because they can. I want KAT. I want Brunson. I want HART. I want DEUCE. I want this team to stay together. But I also want the Knicks to have the flexibility to keep improving. Championship windows don’t last forever. You don’t want to sacrifice your ability to improve the team just because you were afraid to lose a player. Spend when it makes sense. Pay when it makes sense. But “the owner is rich” is not a basketball strategy. 🫴🏽