The G League has agreed to terms on the league’s first-ever Collective Bargaining Agreement with the Next Gen Basketball Players Union (NGBPU), reports ESPN’s Tim Bontemps (Twitter link).
According to Bontemps, the new agreements includes player salary increases, as well as pay bumps for Exhibit 10 recipients who come to the G League after being signed and waived by NBA teams.
To this point, an Exhibit 10 deal has allowed a player to receive a bonus payment, which this season was capped at $85,300. Bontemps goes on to report (via Twitter) that the CBA will allow more players to join G League teams following being waived from an Exhibit 1o deal — that could mean an increase in the number of affiliate players (currently capped at four per team). He also writes that the CBA would allow for fewer restrictions when it comes to player movement.
The NGBPU has been around since 2020 and held its first-ever General Assembly meeting in 2024. This included voting on leadership positions, which led to Rob Baker, of the Osceola Magic, being named union president and Yauhen Massalski of the San Diego Clippers being named Secretary-Treasurer.
“This CBA negotiation represents a critical opportunity to elevate the professional basketball experience for our players and also impact the quality of the game for fans,” Massalski said at the time of the assembly. “We’re committed to ensuring that our members’ voices are heard and that their needs are met.”
As Bontempts notes, the deal has only been agreed to; it has yet to be officially approved by both parties involved.
Really a G-League CBA …. who will go over first apron
Five month season in G-league pays 40,500. Hope they get a raise.
Al what do you think the maximum salary should be for the players? Or should they do how baseball does and each team get 30 contracts and you can just assign 15 players to the Julie team and 15 to your regular team? That sounds better than stupid two-way contracts.
The only problem with what you are saying is the GLeague players are signed to the league, not teams. I know. It is goofy. Your idea makes more sense. It might encourage more player development.