The NBA and the players’ union continue to make positive steps toward reaching a deal on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement, according to Ian Begley and Dave McMenamin of ESPN.com. The ESPN duo reports that NBPA president Michele Roberts intends to meet with all NBA players in person over the next few weeks to discuss the league’s new labor agreement.
The opt-out deadline for the current CBA is on December 15, so the league and the union still have more than five weeks to strike a deal before either side needs to exercise that opt-out. Even if an agreement isn’t in place by that date, and one side or the other opts out, the current CBA wouldn’t expire until next summer, so there would still be plenty of time to work something out.
According to Begley and McMenamin, Roberts and the NBPA hope to meet with players in person to discuss details of the potential new agreement before finalizing the deal with the league.
Meanwhile, sources tell ESPN’s Brian Windhorst and Zach Lowe that the two sides have made major progress in several areas of the CBA, including contract extension, restricted free agency, and qualifying offers. A few details on the proposed changes:
- Players will likely be able to sign contract extensions two years after originally signing their current deal, rather than three years after their signing date.
- Restricted free agents will be able to sign offer sheets starting on July 1, rather than waiting until the end of the July moratorium. Teams would then have 48 hours to match, instead of 72 hours.
- Teams would no no longer be permitted to rescind qualifying offers to restricted free agents. Currently, teams are allowed to pull those QOs until July 31, and several teams took advantage of that rule this year, including the Thunder with Dion Waiters.