Draymond Green becomes the latest to pile on C.J. McCollum for NBA's 'second apron'
CHAOS AHEAD: The NBA's projected 2026 salary cap sheet is a disaster
A popular scapegoat for this second apron problem is veteran shooter and the NBA's Players' Association (NBAPA) president, C.J. McCollum. Never mind that all the relevant players involved voted to ratify the CBA that included the second apron provision. This would mean McCollum isn't solely responsible, even if he may have ultimately led negotiations as the labor union president.
I guess it's just easier to blame it on one person for energy and attention purposes, which is something McCollum joked about after he got traded to the Washington Wizards.
To no one's surprise, Draymond Green is now jumping into this conversation. On Monday night, the four-time champion and former Defensive Player of the Year wrote a lengthy thread on, er, Threads about how the second apron made 2025 NBA free agency a lot quieter than we've come to expect. Within his extended rant, the Golden State Warriors star mentioned that he "should" have been the NBAPA president, which was clearly an unsubtle swipe at McCollum.
Is Green potentially upset that the salary cap-strapped Warriors have yet to make a move in free agency? Or, in the same rant where he started by noting he was talking to his wife in his "man-cave" (which, okay? good to know), is he actually making these criticisms in good faith?
Who knows! It's still noteworthy any time you publicly rip another active player for screwing up a league's labor system:
To be clear, we probably won't know the full effects of the NBA's second apron until we have a larger sample size over time. Yes, the early returns aren't great, but well ... things can always get worse!
Even still, it feels weird to pile on McCollum for an evident mutual mistake that all NBA player leadership made together.
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