The NBA and the Players Association are reportedly nearing a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, per Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. As the NBA regular season quickly approaches its Oct. 25 tip-off date, Woj reports the parties could even reach a deal within the next several weeks.
Until a new CBA is signed, the potential for a work stoppage in 2017 remains. You might recall that the parties couldn’t reach an agreement in 2011, and that season was suspended for 16 games. David Stern was the NBA commissioner at the time.
The league and the NBPA each have until Dec. 15 to exercise an opt-out clause from the current 10-year deal, which was signed in 2011, but Wojnarowski reports a new deal will likely be in place before that date. NBA franchise values have soared over the past four years, even tripling in worth.
The two parties reportedly see eye-to-eye on many of the major bargaining points, and at this point they’re just hashing out the smaller CBA elements. The sides are headed up by NBA commissioner Adam Silver and NBPA executive director Michele Roberts, who have fostered a spirit of togetherness and open communication. Not hard to do when your league is making absolute bank.
“Among expected changes in the new CBA, league sources told The Vertical: A significantly higher rookie contract scale and two-way contracts between the NBA and NBA Development League that will add playing jobs for the union,” Woj reports.
This is obviously thrilling news for basketball fans. As the analytics crowd knows, it’s a simple mathematical equation: Ball = life. Therefore, the subtraction of ball equals the subtraction of life.
