OKC Thunder: Stakeholders agree on amended CBA, Nov. 20th Free Agency start date

The OKC Thunder and peers got confirmation Free Agency will begin November 20th and the stakeholders agreed to the amended CBA.

Like everyone who is invested in the NBA, the OKC Thunder was awaiting the final decisions of key stakeholders regarding the calendar, key events, and the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) amendments.

The heavy lifting of negotiations between the NBA Board of Governors (BoG) and Players’ Association (NBPA) occurred the past few weeks. Late last week the BoG and NBPA announced their mutual agreement to open the season on December 22nd and committed to a 72-game schedule.

NBA Free Agency approved to begin November 20th:

The other key aspects of the calendar and CBA were officially announced on Monday as the parties have agreed to begin free agency on November 20th at 6:00 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The moratorium was expected to closely follow the NBA Draft and this schedule occurs two days after the NBA Draft scheduled for November 18th.

Another major part of the agreement was where the salary cap would be set as that would affect every team’s operating budget and roster compilation this coming season. The agreed salary cap is $109.1 million.  The associated luxury tax is $132.6 million. These two figures are precisely the same benchmarks used in the 2019-20 season.

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Another key to the agreement was where the player’s escrow mark would be set. There were whispers it could be substantially increased and presumably part of the additional negotiations focused on this area since the lower tier salaried players would take a big hit if the escrow was substantially increased. In the end, the sides agreed on keeping the escrow amount at 10 percent, and if the hit is larger the amount will be spread out over this season and the next two seasons.

The deep dive on the numbers can be found in the ESPN article by Tim Bontemps and Adrian Wojnarowski. As for the OKC Thunder, the biggest impact this has on the team is Sam Presti now can gear up his efforts for the Draft (November 18th), free agency (November 20th), and look ahead at the team’s salary.

Thunder Nation is also eagerly anticipating the big announcement of whom the next head coach will be although many are believing the Will Weaver quarantine notes likely means he’ll be the next bench boss. Stay tuned as the next few weeks are going to be jam-packed with news.