Under the NBA Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA), first-round draft picks entering the fourth year of their rookie scale contracts are eligible for a Designated Rookie Scale Extension.

• Standard Rookie Max (25% Tier): A player with 0 to 6 years of NBA experience can receive a starting salary up to 25% of the salary cap in Year 1 of the extension, with 8% annual raises off the first year's salary if signing with their incumbent team (Full Bird Rights).
• The "Derrick Rose Rule" Supermax (30% Tier): If a player earns an All-NBA Selection (any of the 3 teams), wins Defensive Player of the Year (DPOY), or wins MVP in the season preceding the extension, their starting maximum can escalate from 25% to up to 30% of the cap. For an elite young big like Jalen Duren or Evan Mobley, extensions often include conditional escalators (e.g., guaranteed 25% with 30% upside upon All-NBA selection).
• The $200M Detroit Pistons Stalemate: With a projected 2026–27 salary cap of ~$170.1M, a 5-year 25% standard rookie max is worth approximately $246.5M ($42.5M starting, rising by $3.4M/yr). A flat offer of $200M represents only ~20.3% of the cap, creating a $46.5M guaranteed discount that elite young talents and agents routinely decline before testing restricted free agency (RFA) or securing the full max.

The 2023 CBA introduced strict spending limits known as the First Apron (approx. $7M above the luxury tax line) and the Second Apron (approx. $17.5M above the luxury tax line).

Teams crossing the Second Apron lose access to the taxpayer mid-level exception (MLE), cannot aggregate player salaries in trades, cannot send cash in trades, and face severe draft pick freezing penalties (their 1st round pick 7 years out becomes ineligible to be traded and moves to the end of the 1st round if they remain over the second apron in multiple seasons). Managing extension starting salaries is crucial to prevent triggering the second apron in years 3 through 5.