Collective Bargaining Agreement

NBA May Only Offer 50-Game Season If Players Want January 18 Start

October 30th, 2020 at 11:42am CST by Luke Adams

As ESPN reported earlier this week and as NBPA vice president Malcolm Brogdon confirmed during an appearance on The Jump on Thursday, the expectation is that the league’s 2020/21 season will start on either December 22, the date proposed by the NBA, or January 18, the date that a number of players reportedly prefer.

However, if the players insist on starting the season on Martin Luther King Day rather than before Christmas, the NBA may only offer a 50-game season, according to Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link). The league’s December 22 plan would result in a 72-game season.

As Stein explains – and as Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press confirms (via Twitter) – the NBA’s television partners are pushing for the earlier start date and/or a shortened schedule because they don’t want the season to clash with the Tokyo Olympics in July and August. Those TV partners presumably also wouldn’t be enthusiastic about the NBA postseason running into September again and competing with the NFL.

Completing the 2020/21 season in July would allow the NBA to get back to its usual October-to-June calendar for the ’21/22 campaign. However, a 50-game season would result in a substantial pay reduction for players, since their earnings are tied to league revenue, as cap expert Albert Nahmad observes (via Twitter). As such, the NBPA is unlikely to be on board with such a plan.

It sounds as if the NBA and NBPA still have some work to do to bridge the gap on the season’s start date and length. And while the two sides had previously set October 30 (today) as the deadline to negotiate changes to the Collective Bargaining Agreement, Brogdon indicated during his appearance on The Jump yesterday that he expects that deadline to be pushed back for a fourth time. NBPA executive director Michele Roberts conveyed a similar sentiment earlier in the week.

If the league and players’ union move forward with the NBA’s December 22 plan, training camps would begin on or around December 1, so the two sides will need to reach some sort of agreement sooner rather than later. According to Stein (via Twitter), a resolution is expected by next week, since all involved parties are “antsy for clarity.”

Roberts: NBPA “Won’t Be Rushed” On NBA’s Proposal

October 28th, 2020 at 9:54pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA and NBPA agreed earlier this month to push back the deadline that would allow either side to terminate the Collective Bargaining Agreement to October 30. However, with that deadline just two days away, NBPA executive director Michele Roberts tells Shams Charania of The Athletic that the players’ union expects negotiations to continue beyond this Friday.

“The union and the players are analyzing all of the information and will not be rushed,” Roberts said. “We have requested and are receiving data from the parties involved and will work on a counter-proposal as expeditiously as possible. I have absolutely no reason to believe that we will have a decision by Friday. I cannot and will not view Friday as a drop dead date.

“While we are all anxious to resolve these and other substantive issues outstanding between the parties, we plan to proceed at a pace that provides our players ample opportunity to determine the best way to proceed.”

The players, led by the NBPA, are currently reviewing the league’s proposal to begin the 2020/21 season on December 22. The plan is expected to require teams to begin training camps on December 1, which is just over a month away. The NBA Finals came to an end just two weeks ago, and Roberts suggested in her comments to The Athletic that the players are feeling rushed by the process.

“Given all that has to be resolved between now and a December 22 date, factoring that there will be financial risks by a later start date, it defies common sense that it can all be done in time,” Roberts said. “Our players deserve the right to have some runway so that they can plan for a start that soon. The overwhelming response from the players that I have received to this proposal has been negative.”

According to Charania, the NBA told teams on Wednesday that talks between the league and the players have been “productive” so far, and Roberts tells The Athletic that she believes the two sides are close to an agreement on salary cap figures for the 2020/21 season. The cap and tax are expected to remain right around $109MM and $132MM for next season, Charania reports.

However, the league and the union still need to bridge the gaps on issues such as how much player salary will be held in escrow in ’20/21, as well as the proposed December 22 start date, sources tell The Athletic.

According to Charania, commissioner Adam Silver acknowledged on Wednesday in a conversation with team presidents and general managers that the proposed turnaround is quicker than the NBA anticipated or planned, but said that the league’s TV partners have been pushing for a return to the NBA’s usual October-to-June calendar as soon as possible.

“We’re being strongly encouraged by our partners to work closely to a traditional season,” Silver said, per Charania. “It’s almost disconcerting we’re deep into planning for next season so soon. But the sooner we can get back, the better.”

Charania adds that if the players ultimately accept the NBA’s proposed timeline and report to camps at the start of December, the NBA hopes to conduct three-to-four preseason games to allow teams to “reset their arenas” for the regular season. A number of days at the start of camps would also be set aside for coronavirus testing before team activities are permitted, says Charania.

NBA, NBPA Extend CBA Termination Deadline For Third Time

October 16th, 2020 at 10:05am CST by JD Shaw

The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association have once again agreed to extend the deadline that would allow one side to terminate the Collective Bargaining Agreement due to COVID-19, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.com.

The decision marks the third of its kind since May, with the new deadline now being October 30. Both sides are in active discussions on what the Collective Bargaining Agreement should include for next season, according to Wojnarowski, who says the possibility of the CBA being terminated remains unlikely.

“Extending is an easy call,” NBPA executive director Michele Roberts told ESPN in August when the sides agreed to extend the deadline for a second time (Twitter link). “If everyone continues to be well-intentioned on how we deal with the economic effects of this virus, we’ll just make the appropriate adjustments and there won’t be a need to terminate the CBA at all.”

Though exact numbers aren’t known, the pandemic has caused significant financial losses for the league this year and beyond. The two sides are discussing a new salary cap for the upcoming campaign based on future financial projections and implications.

It’s unclear when the 2020/21 season could begin, as the league is currently investigating ways to safely bring fans back into arenas for the first time since the pandemic began. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has previously estimated that 40% of the league’s revenue comes from game-night counts.

While the NBA season will occur in some form, a decision also must be reached about the NBA G League. Discussions have been ongoing about how and when the G League could proceed, with several agents telling Hoops Rumors they’ve prioritized placing clients overseas in recent weeks due to the widespread uncertainty.

The NBA’s current CBA contains a mutual opt-out after the 2022/23 season and extends into the 2023/24 season. The league and union had previously projected a 2020/21 salary cap of $115MM and luxury-tax threshold of $139MM. Some teams fear those numbers could fall by as much as $25-30MM, according to Wojnarowski, though the two sides are expected to reach a compromise to avoid a significant drop.

For fans and officials across the league alike, the importance of the NBA and NBPA configuring a new salary cap mechanism and continuing productive negotiations in the coming weeks is clear.

Adam Silver Talks 2020/21 Season, CBA Negotiations, More

October 1st, 2020 at 10:13am CST by Luke Adams

Addressing reporters on Wednesday before the 2020 NBA Finals got underway, commissioner Adam Silver reiterated that the league’s goal for the start of the 2020/21 regular season is to get fans back in arenas, according to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press and Mark Medina of USA Today. While it may not be realistic to expect sell-out crowds, especially if no coronavirus vaccine has been approved, Silver is hopeful that the introduction of rapid COVID-19 testing will help matters.

“Based on everything I’ve read, there’s almost no chance that there will be a vaccine at least that is widely distributed at least before we start the next season. I do not see the development of a vaccine as a prerequisite,” Silver said, per Medina. “My sense with rapid testing is we may not have 19,000 people in the building. We’ll see. But that, with appropriate protocols in terms of distancing and with advanced testing, you will be able to bring fans back into the arenas.

“… The question is will there be truly rapid tests, point-of-care testing that don’t get sent to the lab? Are there instant results? There are lot of pharmaceutical companies focused on that. There’s a marketplace for that.”

Both Silver and NBPA executive director Michele Roberts stressed that their preference is not to repeat the bubble or mini-bubble experience for the 2020/21 season, despite its success in Orlando this summer.

“Do I want to do it again? Not if I can avoid it,” Roberts said, per Reynolds. “Those are my marching orders: Not if we can avoid it. Now, having said that, the players want to make sure we can save our season again.”

Silver’s state-of-the-league address touched on a handful of other topics. Here are some of the highlights from the NBA’s commissioner:

On the start date for the 2020/21 season:

Silver recently acknowledged that the ’20/21 season is unlikely to start until sometime in the new year, but on Wednesday he didn’t entirely close the door on a Christmas Day start, even while admitting that it’s unlikely.

“The earliest we would start is Christmas. That’s been a traditional tent-pole day for the league; but it may come and go,” Silver said, according to Brian Lewis of The New York Post. “Probably the greater likelihood is we start in January.”

As Silver pointed out, the 2019/20 campaign has been the longest season in NBA history and many players who participated in the summer restart in Orlando were continuously training through the hiatus, meaning they’re not necessarily eager for a quick turnaround to training camps.

“The Finals will end in roughly mid-October, and they need a break physically and mentally,” Silver said, per Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “There’s no question about that.”

Silver was also asked about the possibility of shifting the NBA’s schedule further into the summer on a permanent basis, but downplayed the idea that the league is seriously considering that possibility, suggesting that many players want “some normalcy in the summer” and adding that “fewer people are watching television in the summer,” as ESPN’s Tim Bontemps details.

On negotiating Collective Bargaining Agreement adjustments with the NBPA:

The NBA has yet to set dates for free agency, figures for the 2020/21 salary cap, or a calendar for next season. It will need to negotiate those issues – and many others – with the players’ union before finalizing anything. However, Silver didn’t sound concerned about the two sides’ ability to work things out.

“There’s no doubt there are issues on the table that need to be negotiated,” Silver said, according to Vardon. “I think it’s — we’ve managed to work through every other issue so far. I think we have a constructive relationship with (the NBPA). We share all information. We look at our various business models together. So I think while no doubt there will be issues and there will be some difficult negotiations ahead, I fully expect we’ll work them out, as we always have.”

Silver indicated that serious negotiations on the necessary changes likely won’t begin until after the Finals are complete, but reiterated that he doesn’t believe there will be any labor issues.

“I think we all understand the essential parameters,” Silver said.

On the number of Black head coaches in the NBA:

In the wake of racial and social justice protests this summer, the number of Black head coaches in the NBA has shrunk, with Doc Rivers, Nate McMillan, and Alvin Gentry losing their jobs while interim Nets coach Jacque Vaughn was also replaced. According to Bontemps, there are just four Black head coaches left in the NBA for now: J.B. Bickerstaff, Lloyd Pierce, Monty Williams, and Dwane Casey.

Given the NBA’s increased awareness of the importance of diversity in hiring, Silver said the league is encouraging teams with coaching openings to consider a wide range of candidates. However, he said the league office won’t dictate who teams should hire and doesn’t believe the NBA requires a rule similar to the NFL’s “Rooney Rule,” mandating a certain number of interviews with minority candidates.

“We’ve looked at what might be an equivalent to a Rooney-type rule in the NBA, and I’m not sure it makes sense,” Silver said, per ESPN. “I’m open-minded if there are other ways to address it. There is a certain natural ebb and flow to the hiring and firing, frankly, of coaches, but the number is too low right now. And again, I think we should — let’s talk again after we fill these six positions and see where we are, because I know we can do better, and I think we will do better.”

On whether traveling to and from Canada will be possible for the Raptors and other NBA teams in 2020/21:

Since the ’19/20 campaign was completed in Orlando, international travel hasn’t been an issue for NBA franchises. However, if teams return to their respective home arenas for next season, that will be an important factor to take into account for the Raptors and their opponents, since Canada’s federal government has closed its border with the U.S. to non-essential travelers.

Toronto’s MLB team, the Blue Jays, didn’t receive approval from the Canadian government to play in Toronto during the 2020 season and was forced to instead play home games across the border in Buffalo. Silver admitted that he’s unsure what the plans would be for the Raptors, observing that the decision will be somewhat out of the NBA’s hands.

“Obviously it’s one of those things that’s going to be outside of our control,” Silver said, according to Bontemps. “I know (Raptors owner) Larry (Tanenbaum) has had ongoing conversations, as has (president of basketball operations) Masai Ujiri, with government officials in Canada to see how they’re going to be looking at things this fall, but it’s just too early to know. But we will obviously have to work with whatever rules we’re presented with there.”

Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.

Optimism That Most NBA Players Want To Continue Season

August 27th, 2020 at 9:54am CST by Luke Adams

Among key NBA players, there’s optimism that a majority of players want to continue the playoffs and complete the 2019/20 season, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN (Twitter link). Sources tell Wojnarowski that several members of the Lakers, as well as players around the league, stayed up for hours after Wednesday night’s meeting to continue discussing the issues.

Players are scheduled to reconvene this morning at the same time that the league’s team owners hold a conference call to discuss the situation.

Doc Rivers and Chris Paul were among those who called upon players at last night’s meeting to come away with a plan of action and two or three “clear items” that the NBA can help them act upon, such as police reform and accountability or voter registration, according to an ESPN report.

Paul also wanted to make sure that players understand the financial ramifications of not finishing the 2019/20 season, which could be “cataclysmic,” one league executive told ESPN. NBPA leadership told players that they could lose about about 25-30% of their salaries for next season and would risk termination of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.

According to ESPN’s report, CJ McCollum challenged players who wanted to end the season not to forfeit their platform by quietly heading back home, while Jaylen Brown and Andre Iguodala were among those who called for players to join the “front lines” of the fight for social justice if they stop the season.

While players would reportedly like to see team owners do more to address the issues the players are protesting, some owners have privately wondered what more they can do, according to ESPN. The league’s Board of Governors recently committed $300MM over the next 10 years to a foundation that aims to “create economic opportunity and empowerment in the Black community,” ESPN notes.

The players want the Board of Governors’ support in pushing for policy changes, according to Vincent Goodwill of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Turning teams’ arenas into voting centers for this year’s election could be another actionable item for franchises. Several clubs have already announced their intentions to use their arenas as voting centers, with the Rockets becoming the latest to do so this morning.

NBA, NBPA Agree To Extend CBA Termination Deadline Again

August 25th, 2020 at 1:39pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association have once again reached an agreement to push back the 60-day window giving each side the right to terminate the league’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). According to Wojnarowski, October 15 is the new deadline for modifications to the CBA for 2020/21.

The NBA and NBPA first agreed to push back the Collective Bargaining Agreement termination deadline in May. The agreement gives the two sides more time to make the necessary adjustments to the CBA for the 2020/21 season to account for the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

As Wojnarowski explains (via Twitter), an October 15 deadline will allow the NBA to complete the current season and should give the two sides a chance to make more informed decisions for the future based on the 2019/20 end-of-season revenues.

The pandemic has resulted in NBA revenue losses for this season and will affect its projected revenues going forward. However, there’s still optimism that the league and the players’ union can reach agreements on temporary changes to the Collective Bargaining Agreement and figure out next season’s salary cap without requiring the “nuclear option” of terminating the CBA, tweets Woj.

“Extending is an easy call,” NBPA executive director Michele Roberts told ESPN (Twitter link). “If everyone continues to be well-intentioned on how we deal with the economic effects of this virus, we’ll just make the appropriate adjustments and there won’t be a need to terminate the CBA at all.”

While the 2020/21 season presents a number of logistical and financial challenges on its own, teams will also hope to get some clarity this fall on what the salary cap might look like in 2021/22, ESPN’s Bobby Marks notes (via Twitter). The Jazz, for example, will have the opportunity to extend Rudy Gobert this offseason, but a new deal for him would go into effect in ’21/22 and his first-year salary would likely be based on a percentage of the cap.

Roberts Meets With Players, Discusses 2020/21 Season Start

August 13th, 2020 at 7:24pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Michele Roberts, head of the National Basketball Players Association, consulted in person with several NBA players, across multiple groups, in Orlando yesterday, per Henry Abbott of TrueHoop (Twitter link). Meeting attendees wore masks.

According to Abbott (Twitter link), Roberts anticipates that the NBPA and the NBA will negotiate a revised Collective Bargaining Agreement with relative ease, and that the next NBA season, which the league proposed starting on December 1, will actually commence “some time between late January and early March.”

As we previously relayed, Roberts floated the concept of next season tipping off in early 2021 as opposed to December of this year in an interview earlier this week. The NBPA has yet to approve any official start date for next season.

In that chat with Chris Mannix of SI.com, Roberts indicated that cultivating some kind of campus environment for the season similar to the current 2019/20 Orlando campus model would be the most probable scenario unless something were to change with the status of the current coronavirus pandemic.

The deadline for a renegotiation of the league’s current CBA with players is December 15, 2022.

NBA, NBPA Reach Agreements On Disability Insurance, Salary Withholding

July 30th, 2020 at 5:00pm CST by Luke Adams

The NBA and NBPA have reached an agreement on a revamped insurance benefit for players who suffer career-ending injuries, sources tell Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. According to Wojnarowski, the new disability policy will pay players $2.5MM in the event of a career-ending injury sustained on or off the court.

The previous insurance policy for career-ending injuries paid out approximately $312K — the NBPA had been pushing to increase that amount in the midst of future salary cap uncertainty and the coronavirus pandemic, writes Wojnarowski. The new policy will also apply to career-ending ailments related to COVID-19 complications, Woj adds.

Sources tell ESPN that the new insurance benefit will apply to all active players up to 35 years old and would be paid out in addition to the money owed on the player’s existing contract. As ESPN’s Bobby Marks points out (via Twitter), NBA clubs already have a disability policy in place for their top earners who suffer major injuries, but that policy is designed to protect the teams rather than the players.

Meanwhile, the NBA and the players’ union have also reached an agreement to continue withholding 25% of players’ pay checks in escrow, Wojnarowski reports. That deal has been in place since May 15 and is designed to help maintain a balance of the season’s basketball-related income between teams and players.

The NBA’s Collective Bargaining Agreement calls for approximately a 50/50 revenue split between teams and players. With a portion of the season’s games canceled and the NBA preparing to bring in less revenue than initially anticipated, withholding a portion of player pay checks allows the two sides to begin balancing the books.

According to Marks (via Twitter), there’s already about $600MM sitting in a pair of escrow accounts that has been withheld from players by the NBA and its teams. Once the end-of-season accounting is completed, the NBA will be able to determine if players received more than 51% of this season’s BRI. If that’s the case, the money in escrow will be returned to the teams rather than the players.

Roberts Talks Revenue Loss, Possible 2020/21 Campus, CBA

July 28th, 2020 at 8:35pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

In a wide-ranging phone conversation with Tim Bontemps of ESPN today, National Basketball Players Association executive director Michele Roberts discussed a variety of topics pertaining to the league’s immediate future. Key on everyone’s mind recently has been the success thus far of the 2019/20 season’s Orlando campus, wherein no NBA players or travel team personnel have tested positive for COVID-19 after clearing their quarantines for the past three weeks.

Roberts acknowledged that another possible campus set-up, with NBA players stationed at a single, isolated site with frequent testing, seems like a realistic possibility for the 2020/21 NBA season, given the current state of the novel coronavirus in the US.

“If tomorrow looks like today, I don’t know how we say we can do it differently,” Roberts said. “So it may be that, if the bubble is the way to play, then that is likely gonna be the way we play next season, if things remain as they are.”

The 2020/21 NBA season is tentatively slated to tip off on December 1, though the NBPA hasn’t approved that start date.

Roberts went on to commend the safety precautions implemented within the Disney World campus setup.

“The medical facilities and the physicians on campus, I’m not worried about anyone getting sick and not being able to get absolutely immediate health care,” she said. “I am completely satisfied that we’ve come up with the right protocol.”

The NBA and the NBPA are bracing for a significant loss in league revenue, stemming from the loss of fan attendance for much or all of the 2020/21 season. Both sides will negotiate handling the fallout of these losses and are “beginning some very high-level discussions with respect to what the potential issues are,” Roberts told Bontemps.

Roberts also noted that she does not intend to use the revenue conversations between the NBA and NBPA as a moment to opt out of the NBA’s current Collective Bargaining Agreement for a total renegotiation ahead of the December 15, 2022 deadline for doing so.

“That’s not something that has been addressed and, I would venture to say, is not going to happen.”

New Dates Set For Option Decisions, Salary Guarantees, More

June 23rd, 2020 at 4:58pm CST by Luke Adams

As part of the revised Collective Bargaining Agreement terms that the NBA and NBPA have agreed to, a series of option decision deadlines, salary guarantee dates, and other offseason dates and deadlines have been pushed back.

We don’t yet have a full list that outlines how every date and deadline will be adjusted, but in cases where a deadline fell slightly before or after the start of the 2020/21 league year, those dates have been pushed back to coincide with the new start date for the league year, which will begin on October 19 rather than July 1.

For instance, as Shams Charania of The Athletic tweets, player option decisions for Gordon Hayward (Celtics), DeMar DeRozan (Spurs), Mike Conley (Jazz), and Andre Drummond (Cavaliers) will now be due on October 17 instead of June 29. Lakers big man Anthony Davis will have to decide on his 2020/21 player option by October 14, one day after a potential NBA Finals Game 7, Charania adds.

Meanwhile, the salary guarantee date for four Knicks veterans – Reggie Bullock, Taj Gibson, Wayne Ellington, and Elfrid Payton – who currently have $1MM partial guarantees for 2020/21 will be October 17 at 3:00pm eastern time, rather than on June 28, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

Additionally, as Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press (Twitter link) reported over the weekend, traded player exceptions that were set to expire in early July will have their expiry dates moved to corresponding dates in October. For example, since the free agency moratorium will now expire on October 23 instead of July 6, the Warriors‘ $17.2MM TPE that would have expired on July 7 will instead do so on October 24.

[RELATED: Outstanding NBA Trade Exceptions]

There are other deadlines that figure to be closely tied to the new league year as well. For instance, the deadline to tender a qualifying offer to a potential restricted free agent will likely be on October 17 rather than June 29.

Some date adjustments may be trickier to determine and will require further clarification. For instance, some players had been scheduled to receive full or partial guarantees if they remained under contract through August 1. That date may simply be shifted to November 19, one month after the ’20/21 league year begins. But the NBA has proposed opening training camps for next season on November 10, complicating that timeline.

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