A couple of years ago, the NBA implemented a new collective bargaining agreement that features a new and more restrictive salary cap. This salary cap has first and second apron thresholds, and either can effectively act as a hard cap for teams under certain circumstances.

Some are critical of this new system, as teams have been making moves this offseason simply to shed salary. Those moves have included either trading players with big contracts who cannot justify their deals anymore, or buying out perfectly viable players.

It is projected that this new salary cap will make it next to impossible to keep a young core together for more than a couple of years. Charles Barkley said during a recent appearance on “The Bill Simmons Podcast” that LeBron James, as well as Kevin Durant, and his constant attempts to play with other superstars, are why the league implemented the first and second apron.

“Why did they have to come up with [expletive] rules, Bill? Because all these guys want to play together and not compete. How many great players do we need in one team? They made up these rules, these young people, well if I had a dollar for every time I heard the second apron, why did Adam Silver have to put the second apron in? Because LeBron wanted to get all his guys together. KD wanted to go play with the Warriors. Wait? Ya’ll don’t want to win the championship and compete against each other? Adam Silver had to do something. We can’t let one team hoard all the good players. They had Klay [Thompson], Steph (Stephen Curry) and Draymond Green and they didn’t need KD. Don’t get mad at Adam Silver because ya’ll wanted to play together and dominate the league because ya’ll don’t want to compete.”

This isn’t the first time Barkley has gotten on James for wanting to stack the deck in his favor. Back in the 2016-17 season, when James was with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he complained that the team’s roster was too top-heavy. Barkley then accused James of being “whiny,” wanting to have all the best players on his team and not wanting to compete.

James’ current team, the Los Angeles Lakers, has done a good job this summer of replenishing its talent by bringing in center Deandre Ayton and former Defensive Player of the Year Marcus Smart after both were bought out. But the Lakers need a couple more 3-and-D players to become a true championship contender, and they have virtually no wiggle room under the first apron, a threshold that they would become hard-capped at.

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This article originally appeared on LeBron Wire: Charles Barkley blames LeBron James for NBA’s restrictive salary cap
Reporting by Robert Marvi, LeBron Wire / LeBron Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect