NBA News: CBA Tentative Agreement Reached Ahead of Deadline

With the Collective Bargaining Agreement deadline looming the NBA and Players Association have reached a tentative agreement .

After the 2011-12 strike between the NBA and Players Association dragged on for months leading to a shortened 66 game season this news is extremely positive. That is for all teams except those wanting to build ‘Super Teams’. The new agreement has been built with the intent of not allowing what the Golden State Warriors did this summer to happen (or at least occur easily) again.

Though the agreement is tentative all signs point to a positive result.

The Specifics:

The original deadline of 11:59 PM, December 15 (today) has been extended to January 13, 2017. This in order to allow both sides to review the specifics, vote and cement the agreement.
Terms of the deal would run over 7 years with a clause allowing either side to opt out one year earlier
No amnesty clauses are included
Veteran extensions similar rookie contract extension with the view of allowing small markets the capability of retaining their star players
Rookie scale contract deals are expected to get significant raises (up to 45%)
Roster size will increase to 17 players from the current 15
Major changes to the schedule are expected (as has been rumored for some time) which theoretically would mean fewer back to back sets and less 4 in 5 night scheduled games
Apparently the stalemate which centered around licensing and the use of player images took significant strides in the latter stages of the talks allowing for this tentative deal to be struck

Updated Information on CBA:

David Aldridge was on NBA TV this morning highlighting more details on the deal.

Player – League Split of NBA Related Revenues:

A huge sticking point in the previous negotiations which ultimately led to the lock out was the split of revenues between the owners and players. Aldridge noted this was the first point the two sides made sure to agree on. Moving forward the 49-51% split currently in place will continue as is currently constructed.

Increased Rookie Scale, Mid-Level, Bi-Annual and 10+ year Veteran Salaries:

Aldridge gave the example of LeBron James who has more then 10 years and meets all the criteria of reaching the outlined benchmarks. When he renegotiates he’ll now be eligible to sign a 5 year deal worth well in excess of $200M. Further, the previous dubbed 36-and-over rule will now be 38-and-over.

Further clarification of this can be found via Adrian Wojnarowski’s Yahoo article:

The NBA’s 36-and-over rule that prohibits players from signing a five-year maximum contract if their 36th birthday falls during the life of the deal has changed to a 38-and-under rule, league sources said. Several members of the union’s executive committee, including president Chris Paul, vice president LeBron James and executive committee member Carmelo Anthony could benefit financially from the rule. Under this change, Paul, a perennial All-Star, is eligible for a five-year, $207 million deal to stay with Los Angeles this summer.

College Entry Draft Rule Remains:

The current rule of players needing to attend one year or the “one and done” deal will remain. Further high school players who don’t attend college will still require a one-year sabbatical, where they are either playing overseas or elsewhere prior to being eligible to join the NBA Draft.

This area was one the 2 sides couldn’t agree on with the League still wanting to extend the age to 20 and the Players Union wanted to try a 0-2 rule where High School Players could enter, but College Players would have to stay 2 years.

Increase to D-League and 2-way NBA/D-League Contracts:

With the number of roster players increasing to 17 from 15 this area of the deal makes a ton of sense.

Designated Veteran Exception:

This is akin to the rookie exception deals where a veteran could get the extra year (6 years) if they meet certain criteria. Those benchmarks would be things like appearances in All-Star Games, All NBA Teams, winning certain awards and other benchmarks. Again, this addition to the CBA is to help small market teams retain their stars.

Schedule Changes:

Preseason will be shortened to a maximum of 6 games. Further, the regular season will be extended by one week. The combination of these shifts will allow for fewer back to back sets and hopefully remove the 4 in 5 night game sets.

More from Thunderous Intentions

Again, the big part of the deal seems to center around star retention as as Marc Stein and Ian Begley outlined in their ESPN article:

In addition to those planned hikes, sources said teams will have the ability to offer designated veteran star players contract extensions up to five seasons in length (and in some cases six seasons), greatly enhancing the ability of small-market teams to retain their best players. Starting in July, teams such as the Indiana Pacers and Sacramento Kings will be able to offer lucrative long-term extensions to Paul George and DeMarcus Cousins, respectively. These extensions have been modeled after the NBA’s Designated Player Rookie Extension rules.

Teams like Oklahoma City should be thrilled by this news, as small markets will benefit by being able to keep players who might otherwise leave. Ummm this summer providing the perfect example of how that can happen.

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo’s The Vertical specifically cited Russell Westbrook in his article on the agreement:

In an effort to incentivize players to re-sign with their own teams, designated veteran star players will be able to sign five-year extensions with a year left on their current deals – an additional year over the four years previously allowed, league sources said. For example, Oklahoma City and Indiana could re-sign Russell Westbrook and Paul George, respectively, to deals this summer that could keep them under contract for the next six seasons.

While small markets are happy and players like Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony have voiced their positive endorsements there was bound to be dissenters. Turns out Draymond Green is the main player with objections to the proposed agreement. The guys at FanSided offer an interesting perspective on Green’s beef. Given the Warriors appear to be the last team who’ll be able to form a super team (at least easily) it seems like someone should tell Draymond… “thou doth protest too much!”

Next: Quarter Season Rookie Report

Full details will be released at a later date, but based on all parties showing optimism on this tentative deal all signs point to the agreement being ratified.

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