The NBA, led by commissioner Adam Silver, has already engaged in “extensive talks” with the National Basketball Players Association, led by executive director Tamika Tremaglio, about the league’s next Collective Bargaining Agreement, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.
The NBA’s current CBA runs through the 2023/24 season, but both the league and the players’ union have the ability to opt out of the agreement before then. If either side exercises its opt-out clause by December 15 of this year, the CBA will instead expire on June 30, 2023.
There’s no indication at this point that the NBA is headed toward a lockout. Charania describes the conversations to date as “positive” and says top officials from the league and the union will hold an important in-person meeting next week.
According to Charania, one area of focus for the NBPA in negotiations with the league is the idea of creating lasting equity for its players beyond their standard contract earnings.
“Creating generational wealth is critically important in this next chapter of the union. … We know that the uncertain lifespan (of an NBA career) makes it crucial to plan for what happens after the ball stops bouncing — creating this generational wealth,” Tremaglio told The Athletic. “Thinking about the players’ contributions to the game and how they can be compensated for it will mean there will have to be more equity structures in place.
“It could be the sale of a team. It could be the deals they are entering where they are receiving equity beyond the four or five years that a contract exists. It’s much broader, and I don’t think historically we’ve looked at it. It’s been the here and now.”
Here are a few other issues the two sides are discussing, per Charania:
- The NBA and NBPA are expected to allow players to enter the draft at age 18 instead of age 19. That would reopen the door for top high school prospects to directly enter the NBA rather than having to spend a year playing in college or in a non-NBA league.
- The NBA and NBPA are discussing the idea of including mental health designations on injury reports similar to the way that physical injuries are reported, as well as expanding the mental health treatment options provided by teams.
- The league and some team owners are in favor of introducing more punitive luxury tax penalties. It’s unclear whether changes to the luxury tax system will be mere tweaks or could be more wide-ranging, but Charania says some team executives believe it will be the biggest issue to resolve in the CBA negotiations.
Current CBA is not good for Lakers and Knicks
On the free agent market They are not able to sign 4 of the top 10 young superstars
Tragic.
Lasting equity sounds a bit to me like saving retired players from their own financial mismanagement of their earnings. Is that it, or is it something like a retirement pension, similar to what MLB has?
It’s giving players shares in the business they themselves create. No players no League.
What about the stars of the very first years of the ABA/NBA who were tasked with making basketball a viable commercial vehicle and were paid relative peanuts?
For a lot of the mishandling of finances post-playing career, it seems to be dodgy financial advisors or barely related hangers-on that lead to that.
A lot of these players are still kids when they turn pro, many come from broken backgrounds and there’s no incentive to study better practice before being catapulted into stardom and millionaire status.
I think a pension is more than fair. It’s not going to be millions.
1 generational talent and a stupid owner possibly. As a general rule players will not receive ownership interest