Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Jun 28

2026 NBA Center Market Lists 8 Free Agents Above $15 Million as Teams Guard Top Names

Updated

Updated · The New York Times · Jun 28

2026 NBA Center Market Lists 8 Free Agents Above $15 Million as Teams Guard Top Names

Q: How is the NBA's new salary cap punishing teams for developing their own star players like Jalen Duren?

The new CBA does not stop teams from keeping homegrown stars like Jalen Duren; it punishes them after they do. Detroit can use Bird rights to re-sign Duren, and because he made All-NBA he is eligible for a massive five-year supermax extension. The problem is that once a team pays that kind of money to a player it developed, the payroll can quickly rise into the luxury tax and, more importantly, toward the first and second aprons. That is where the real penalty begins. Under the 2023 CBA, teams above the second apron lose major roster-building tools. They cannot use the midlevel exception, face tighter trade rules, cannot take back extra salary in deals, have limits on aggregating contracts, and can lose flexibility with future draft picks. So a team that successfully develops a star is effectively taxed twice: it pays the player market value, then loses many of the mechanisms needed to build depth around him. That is why this summer’s center market is full of “decline-and-re-sign” maneuvers, stretched waivers and option restructures. Oklahoma City, Boston, Brooklyn and others are reshaping contracts not because they dislike their players, but because the apron system makes straightforward retention expensive and restrictive. In Duren’s case, Detroit’s issue is not whether it can keep him. It almost certainly can. The issue is that paying him what he has earned can squeeze out cap room, force cuts elsewhere, and make it harder to add the supporting pieces needed to contend.

3 articles · Updated · The New York Times · Jun 28

$44.2 million tops the class, with Detroit restricted free agent Jalen Duren leading a center market that looks strong on paper but is thinner in practice.
Most of the best centers are not truly available because they are restricted free agents or tied to team options, pushing much of the real value further down the depth chart.
Oklahoma City already moved on Isaiah Hartenstein with a 3-year, $75 million extension, while Phoenix agreed to bring back Mark Williams for 3 years and $38 million.
Several potentially gettable names sit around the non-taxpayer midlevel exception, including Deandre Ayton, Kristaps Porzingis, Mitchell Robinson and Day'Ron Sharpe.
The broader takeaway is that teams seeking a starting center may face a constrained market, while clubs hunting backup or third-center help should find better value.