League, NBPA Nearing Agreement To Extend CBA By Seven Years

The NBA and NPBA are working on a seven-year extension to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, with a mutual opt-out in six years, league sources informed Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical. The seven-year deal could result in NBA labor peace through the 2023/24 season, unless the opt-outs are exercised in 2022, Wojnarowski adds. The new pact would begin starting next season. The league and the union have a mutual opt-out date for the current arrangement on December 15th, but this new CBA agreement should be finalized over the next few weeks, Wojnarowski notes.

One aspect the new CBA will alter is the amount of the mid-level exception, increasing the salary from its current value of $5.6MM for a season to approximately $8MM, Marc Stein of ESPN.com relays (via Twitter). Wojnarowski, in a previous piece, relayed a number of the other aspects of the new CBA that are being worked on, which include:

• The NBA and union have tentatively agreed to change the 36-and-over rule that now prohibits players from signing a five-year maximum contract if their 36th birthday occurs within the life of the deal, Wojnarowski relayed. Under the new CBA, the age will be bumped to 38-and-over, which would have significant financial implications for superstars in the twilight of their careers.
• The league’s Basketball Related Income (BRI) split will remain unchanged in a new agreement, league sources told the scribe. The players receive a share in the range of 49 to 51% of the current BRI.
• The NBA will raise rookie-scale, veteran minimum and free-agent exception deals in the new agreement, per Wojnarowski’s sources. Rises in those salaries could come in the 50% range over current numbers, according to the article.
• The NBA will keep its “one-and-done” rule with college basketball, retreating on its original desire to make college players wait two years after high school graduation to become eligible for the NBA draft, writes Wojnarowski.
• Two-way contracts between the NBA and NBA D-League will offer teams the chance to add 16th and 17th roster spots, and pay players differently based upon their assignments in either the league’s minor league or as part of the parent team, league sources told the Vertical scribe.