Latest news with #JohnTonje
Yahoo
3 hours ago
- Business
- Yahoo
How the NBA collective bargaining agreement is helping programs like Wisconsin
The Utah Jazz selected Wisconsin basketball wing John Tonje No. 53 overall in the 2025 NBA draft on Thursday. He joins Rutgers forward Ace Bailey and Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. as the team's three draftees. If the NBA's current collective bargaining agreement, signed in 2023, hadn't existed, there's a decent chance Tonje would've gone undrafted. Here's why. In 2023, the NBA Players Association and the league agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement, which featured a brand new and impactful rule: the second apron. This new rule was designed to help combat the rising trend of 'superteams,' with the most successful example being the Golden State Warriors, who won titles with Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson all on one team. Advertisement The old CBA had a much softer salary cap than the new agreement, meaning that teams could go over the cap while only having to pay a small luxury tax as a penalty. That is different than other leagues, including the NFL, which has a hard salary cap and severe penalties for exceeding it. The new bargaining agreement and the 'second apron' rule aimed to limit the amount of money that franchises could spend on team-building. Some of those penalties include significant fines, teams not being able to trade first-round picks from seven years out and teams not being able to use cash in trades. Those are in addition to the numerous first-apron penalties as well. This idea sounds positive. However, it is having major consequences on the league. For example, many teams are so scared of exceeding the second apron that they are being forced to trade key rotation pieces or stars on their roster. The Boston Celtics were forced to trade both Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, two key members of their 2024 championship team. This past Tuesday, Nuggets general manager Josh Kroenke floated the idea of trading multiple-time MVP Nikola Jokic if the team come too close to exceeding the second apron. Instead of stopping teams from overspending, it is having an inverse effect which is causing NBA franchises to penny pinch. The reason why this affects college stars like John Tonje is that NBA franchises are in dire need of inexpensive, pro-ready rotational players that can fill the gaps that were previously filled by expensive role players. Teams can only afford a couple of high-profile players before they exceed the second apron, so many NBA franchises are filling the gaps with collegiate stars like John Tonje, players who can come in and fill a bench role for a few years before reaching free agency. We've seen this trend with many different teams in the NBA including the Los Angeles Lakers, who drafted 23-year old Dalton Knecht in the first round last year, or the Memphis Grizzlies, who drafted Zach Edey with the ninth overall pick. Advertisement Players like John Tonje who played well in March Madness and have NBA tools are being giving more chances by franchises that are tiptoeing close to the second apron and are in need of cheap, low-risk and high-reward players. While there were a record number of freshman drafted in the 2025 NBA Draft, there was also a high number of senior and super seniors drafted, including Nique Clifford, Walter Clayton Jr, Johni Broome, Ryan Kalkbrenner, Chaz Lanier, Koby Brea, and Brooks Barnhizer. Very few of these players would've been drafted just a couple of years ago and even fewer would've been drafted in the first round like Clifford and Clayton. This shift will be a positive one for college basketball programs like the Wisconsin Badgers, who tend to produce a ton of upperclassmen NBA talent. Next year, it is possible that both juniors John Blackwell and Nolan Winter enter the NBA draft process and eventually get drafted. The second apron might not be the most beneficial to the leagues' franchises, but it will definitely benefit players like Tonje and programs like Wisconsin who thrive on collegiate development. Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Why NBA CBA helps programs like Wisconsin, players like John Tonje
USA Today
3 hours ago
- Business
- USA Today
How the NBA collective bargaining agreement is helping programs like Wisconsin
The Utah Jazz selected Wisconsin basketball wing John Tonje No. 53 overall in the 2025 NBA draft on Thursday. He joins Rutgers forward Ace Bailey and Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. as the team's three draftees. If the NBA's current collective bargaining agreement, signed in 2023, hadn't existed, there's a decent chance Tonje would've gone undrafted. Here's why. In 2023, the NBA Players Association and the league agreed on a new collective bargaining agreement, which featured a brand new and impactful rule: the second apron. This new rule was designed to help combat the rising trend of 'superteams,' with the most successful example being the Golden State Warriors, who won titles with Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, and Klay Thompson all on one team. The old CBA had a much softer salary cap than the new agreement, meaning that teams could go over the cap while only having to pay a small luxury tax as a penalty. That is different than other leagues, including the NFL, which has a hard salary cap and severe penalties for exceeding it. The new bargaining agreement and the 'second apron' rule aimed to limit the amount of money that franchises could spend on team-building. Some of those penalties include significant fines, teams not being able to trade first-round picks from seven years out and teams not being able to use cash in trades. Those are in addition to the numerous first-apron penalties as well. This idea sounds positive. However, it is having major consequences on the league. For example, many teams are so scared of exceeding the second apron that they are being forced to trade key rotation pieces or stars on their roster. The Boston Celtics were forced to trade both Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, two key members of their 2024 championship team. This past Tuesday, Nuggets general manager Josh Kroenke floated the idea of trading multiple-time MVP Nikola Jokic if the team come too close to exceeding the second apron. Instead of stopping teams from overspending, it is having an inverse effect which is causing NBA franchises to penny pinch. The reason why this affects college stars like John Tonje is that NBA franchises are in dire need of inexpensive, pro-ready rotational players that can fill the gaps that were previously filled by expensive role players. Teams can only afford a couple of high-profile players before they exceed the second apron, so many NBA franchises are filling the gaps with collegiate stars like John Tonje, players who can come in and fill a bench role for a few years before reaching free agency. We've seen this trend with many different teams in the NBA including the Los Angeles Lakers, who drafted 23-year old Dalton Knecht in the first round last year, or the Memphis Grizzlies, who drafted Zach Edey with the ninth overall pick. Players like John Tonje who played well in March Madness and have NBA tools are being giving more chances by franchises that are tiptoeing close to the second apron and are in need of cheap, low-risk and high-reward players. While there were a record number of freshman drafted in the 2025 NBA Draft, there was also a high number of senior and super seniors drafted, including Nique Clifford, Walter Clayton Jr, Johni Broome, Ryan Kalkbrenner, Chaz Lanier, Koby Brea, and Brooks Barnhizer. Very few of these players would've been drafted just a couple of years ago and even fewer would've been drafted in the first round like Clifford and Clayton. This shift will be a positive one for college basketball programs like the Wisconsin Badgers, who tend to produce a ton of upperclassmen NBA talent. Next year, it is possible that both juniors John Blackwell and Nolan Winter enter the NBA draft process and eventually get drafted. The second apron might not be the most beneficial to the leagues' franchises, but it will definitely benefit players like Tonje and programs like Wisconsin who thrive on collegiate development. Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion
USA Today
a day ago
- Sport
- USA Today
WATCH: The moment the Utah Jazz selected Wisconsin basketball star John Tonje
JT is headed to UT 🏔️💜#TakeNote | #NBADraft After being selected in the second round of the 2025 NBA draft, former Wisconsin basketball star John Tonje will officially don NBA threads during the 2025-26 season. On Thursday, the Utah Jazz selected the North Omaha, Nebraska, native with the 53rd overall pick of the draft. After six years of collegiate basketball with three different programs, Tonje becomes the first Badger to be drafted since 2022, joining lottery pick and former Big Ten Player of the Year Johnny Davis. And, like his fellow 58 draftees, Tonje witnessed his dream materialize before his very eyes. On Thursday evening at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Deputy Commissioner of the NBA Mark Tatum uttered the words every aspiring professional hooper hopes to hear: "With the 53rd pick of the 2025 NBA Draft, the Utah Jazz select John Tonje from the University of Wisconsin." The AP Second-Team All-American and First-Team All-Big Ten team member certainly earned his position on the Jazz. In 37 appearances in 2024-25, Tonje averaged 19.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game while shooting a blistering 46.5% from the field, 39% from 3 and 91% from the free-throw line. Tonje also recorded three 30+ point performances against top-10 opponents, including a 41-tally outburst against No. 9 Arizona in November, a 32-point explosion against No. 7 Purdue in February, and another 32-point barrage vs. No. 7 Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship semifinal in March. Tonje punctuated his collegiate career with 37 points in Wisconsin's NCAA Tournament Round of 32 loss against BYU. That outing gave him the program record for the most points in an NCAA Tournament game. "Just had a great year at Wisconsin," ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas said on the broadcast. "John Tonje has a strong frame. He's tough, he's aggressive, [a] good shooter with a high release and a good driver. He's very good on the move, but it's his physicality, he just bullied his way to the free throw line over and over again this year. He made the most free throws of any player this last year in Division I basketball." Tonje is one of three Jazz draftees alongside Rutgers forward Ace Bailey (No. 5 overall) and Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. (No. 18). He will join Johnny Juzang, Brice Sensabaugh, Kyle Filipowski, Keyonte George, Jordan Clarkson and Taylor Hendricks in Utah's second unit. The Jazz will look to improve off a 17-65 finish during the 2024-25 season and secure its first playoff birth since 2022. Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
WATCH: The moment the Utah Jazz selected Wisconsin basketball star John Tonje
After being selected in the second round of the 2025 NBA draft, former Wisconsin basketball star John Tonje will officially don NBA threads during the 2025-26 season. On Thursday, the Utah Jazz selected the North Omaha, Nebraska, native with the 53rd overall pick of the draft. After six years of collegiate basketball with three different programs, Tonje becomes the first Badger to be drafted since 2022, joining lottery pick and former Big Ten Player of the Year Johnny Davis. Advertisement And, like his fellow 58 draftees, Tonje witnessed his dream materialize before his very eyes. On Thursday evening at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, Deputy Commissioner of the NBA Mark Tatum uttered the words every aspiring professional hooper hopes to hear: "With the 53rd pick of the 2025 NBA Draft, the Utah Jazz select John Tonje from the University of Wisconsin." The AP Second-Team All-American and First-Team All-Big Ten team member certainly earned his position on the Jazz. In 37 appearances in 2024-25, Tonje averaged 19.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game while shooting a blistering 46.5% from the field, 39% from 3 and 91% from the free-throw line. Tonje also recorded three 30+ point performances against top-10 opponents, including a 41-tally outburst against No. 9 Arizona in November, a 32-point explosion against No. 7 Purdue in February, and another 32-point barrage vs. No. 7 Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship semifinal in March. Tonje punctuated his collegiate career with 37 points in Wisconsin's NCAA Tournament Round of 32 loss against BYU. That outing gave him the program record for the most points in an NCAA Tournament game. Advertisement "Just had a great year at Wisconsin," ESPN college basketball analyst Jay Bilas said on the broadcast. "John Tonje has a strong frame. He's tough, he's aggressive, [a] good shooter with a high release and a good driver. He's very good on the move, but it's his physicality, he just bullied his way to the free throw line over and over again this year. He made the most free throws of any player this last year in Division I basketball." Tonje is one of three Jazz draftees alongside Rutgers forward Ace Bailey (No. 5 overall) and Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. (No. 18). He will join Johnny Juzang, Brice Sensabaugh, Kyle Filipowski, Keyonte George, Jordan Clarkson and Taylor Hendricks in Utah's second unit. The Jazz will look to improve off a 17-65 finish during the 2024-25 season and secure its first playoff birth since 2022. Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Wisconsin Basketball star John Tonje Utah Jazz NBA Draft Announcement
Yahoo
a day ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Wisconsin star wing John Tonje selected in second round of 2025 NBA draft
The Utah Jazz selected Wisconsin basketball star John Tonje with the 53rd overall pick in the 2025 NBA draft on Thursday. The All-American wing makes the jump to the NBA level after a standout senior season at Wisconsin. He averaged 19.6 points, 5.3 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game while shooting a terrific 46.5% from the field, 39% from 3 and 91% from the free-throw line. Had the Badgers defeated BYU in the second round of the NCAA Tournament, Tonje was in line to capture the program's all-time single-season scoring record. Advertisement The former Missouri and Colorado State transfer becomes the first Badger drafted since Johnny Davis went No. 10 overall to the Washington Wizards in 2022, plus the second since Frank Kaminsky and Sam Dekker were each first-round picks back in 2015. He joins a Jazz draft class that also includes Rutgers forward Ace Bailey (No. 5 overall) and Florida guard Walter Clayton Jr. (No. 18). Those three incoming rookies will help the Jazz improve from a 17-65 2024-25 season. The team has not made the playoffs since it did so for six straight years from 2016-22. Tonje will likely be in action during the NBA Summer League, which is scheduled to take place from July 10 to 20. Despite the now-former Badger's top-tier collegiate production, he still needs to prove his staying power at the NBA level. Advertisement Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Wisconsin basketball star John Tonje's NBA draft selection
