OKC Thunder: Chris Paul role as President of NBPA keeping him busy

OKC Thunder guard Chris Paul is at home but his role as President of the NBPA has him busier than usual touching base with peers on items like 25 percent pay reduction as of May 15th.

OKC Thunder veteran point guard Chris Paul is at home with the rest of us practicing safe distancing. While he isn’t as busy as normal on the hardwood his role of father and being the President of the NBA Players Association is keeping him busy.

Although these are daily roles for CP3 his family lives in Los Angeles so he’s had to parent from a distance in OKC. In terms of his NBPA duties that is a constant for him but with the pandemic he might actually be busier now that typical given the need to talk to a number of his peers to get their input on various matters.

For example, it’s logical he would need to talk to every team representative to gauge how the players feel about being isolated, playing without fans or being isolated in one place if and when the NBA returns.

No doubt Paul is on the phone today as the NBA and NBPA mutually announced a salary update. All players will receive a full paycheque on May 1st, however, as of May 15th, the two entities agreed to a 25 percent pay reduction. For now, the money will be withheld pending a return to action.

To reach that agreement required a vote that was ratified as per Adrian Wojnarowski on ESPN. The long term effects could switch to that money never finding it’s way to players if the season eventually gets canceled.

"The plan would serve as something of an escrow account that would return money to the players should all the remaining regular-season games be played in a resumption of the season. Otherwise, teams would keep a percentage of the money based on the cancellation of games."

This move signifies the potential for a gradual decrease should the season end up canceled. If that is the case the Collective Bargaining Agreement contains a caveat called “force majeure”. This provision is in place for situations like natural disasters, war or pandemics such as the coronavirus.

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On the other hand, perhaps a positive takeaway from this situation is the league must still think they can return to action otherwise the amount being withheld would theoretically be larger. (Click the link above for the full story).

While Adam Silver is expected to update on the next steps on May 1st the other important note was it could be up until June 15th before a final decision is made.

That would appear to be the absolute cut-off date meaning if the association didn’t have a definitive plan in place by then the season would be canceled.

For now – – we wait, gauge each day awaiting the curve to flatten on positive cases and hope for a return to normalcy or at least some semblance of that.

In the interim, Chris Paul can expect to be kept busy in his roles both at home as a father and with the NBPA.

Be well and stay safe!