Owners and players ratify new deal

[Simon]

 

[Simon]

 

[Marcus]

I think league parity should be the paramount issue for the next CBA. Having two teams at the top kind of sucks. The East probably won't look like this forever, maybe a few more years at the most of LeBron being able to carry a team through a Finals (and Kyrie). But with the West; nobody is beating Golden State if they keep their core guys together. So you're just going to keep seeing Cavs-Warriors year after year.

This absolutely needs to be remedied. Don't get me wrong, I love that the Cavs are perennial contenders, the cream of the crop, the best in the East. But they have no real challengers. Toronto is a distant second.

Golden State has no real challengers unless they have an off year and San Antonio gets hot. Basically, you're going to have the same 2-3 legitimate contenders every year... and then everyone else. And all of these rosters are going to last for at least the next few years.

Would be much more entertaining with some roster parity, even as it regards one conference being much stronger than the other (as has often been the case with the Western Conference in most of the last decade).

Also, I would love to see some changes in the playoffs, mainly:

Go back to five games in the first round. The postseason is already absurdly long, stretching from mid-April until mid to late June.

Still on the fence about this one, and perhaps in the minority, but I wouldn't mind the playoff field being slightly reduced from eight to six teams for each conference.

 

[FiveThous]

Wow. Vegas could go from no teams to having an NFL and an NBA team in a year.

That's crazy.

NHL expansion franchise too.

 

[Simon]

 

[Simon]

Also, joint statement coming soon.

Props to Silver and Co. for getting this done early.

 

[MirORich]

Also, joint statement coming soon.

Props to Silver and Co. for getting this done early.

Props to Silver, Michele Roberts, CP3, Melo, LeBron etc.

Since Silver took over and NBAPA leadership changed over the past few year, the tone has changed to one of partnership not owners/employees.

Of course it doesn't hurt that the league is in an unprecedented run of financial windfall and stability. It's truly a golden goose right now and everyone involved is well compensated from ownership down to players and coaches.

 

[Simon]

 

[MirORich]

Shortened preseason, more rest, less back to backs and 4 in 5 nights:

 

[MirORich]

One designated Vet can now be extended prior to FA with 5 or even 6 year deal(under current rules it was never financially advantageous for a max player to extend prior to hitting the market)

 

[MirORich]

Every body gets some more of that shiny TV and international money:

Miscellaneous:

 

[Simon]

I wonder if D-League players will get a raise in their contracts. They aren't getting paid much.

 

[MirORich]

I wonder if D-League players will get a raise in their contracts. They aren't getting paid much.

I think eventually teams will have a set number of players who can play all year in the D League while still being permanently on their NBA teams roster(not counting for one of the active 13) while getting more than D League play.

I think ultimately the one and done rule will transform to something like the MLB draft system, where you if you go to college you're inegible to be drafted for 2 years, but you can get drafted out of HS and spend two years in the D League making NBA money.

So in other words, it would be a essentially a rule that states all NBA players must be two years removed from HS or 20 years old. But teams could draft HS players and use the D League as a minor league for two years with those players.

Just my opinion and not something I've seen mentioned in relation to this new CBA

 

[MirORich]

Riding the wave of fan interest in so-called “super teams” and a reservoir of television money that has helped both owners and players, the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association reached a tentative seven-year deal Wednesday on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The tentative deal, which can be opted out after six years, has to be approved by both sides’ respective constituents, so the Thursday deadline for each side to be able to opt out of the existing 10-year CBA will be extended—but only to allow each side to formally ratify the deal.

The agreement was the culmination of months of work between NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and NBPA Executive Director Michele Roberts, whose comity toward each other set the tone for the discussions.

If neither side opts out of the deal early, the 12-year stretch between the last lockout in 2011 and then will be one of the longest sustained periods of games without a labor stoppage in recent history. The league imposed a brief lockout in 1996 that didn’t lead to any lost games, but the 1998 lockout led to the cancellation of 32 games before a last-minute agreement in January, 1999 salvaged a 50-game season.

Among the key points in the new agreement:

• The new deal will keep in place the existing “band” of the players’ share of Basketball Related Income between 49 and 51 percent. The union was willing to accept this because BRI has risen from $4 billion to an estimated $8 billion in the next couple of years, in part due to the $24 billion television contract that has commenced between the league and its national partners, ABC/ESPN and Turner (Turner Sports operates NBA.com). NBA players will also get a larger percentage of revenue streams such as arena signage, according to sources.

• Significant increases across the board in player contracts, including maximum salaried players.
  • Minimum salaries for veterans with 10 or more years of service, players with five or more years’ service, rookie players on their rookie scale contracts and salaries of players who sign under the mid-level exception will all increase. The bi-annual exception will also increase.
  • The expected maximum salary in 2017-18 for a player with 10 or more year’s service—including many of the game’s superstars, like LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Chris Paul, each of whom can become an unrestricted free agent next summer, will be $36 million, allowing a player to sign a five-year deal with his existing team for around $210 million. The maximum salary for players with between 7 and 9 year’s experience is projected to be $31 million. All of the contracts will be tied to the salary cap, which is different from the previous CBA. Such huge deals for vets with that much service time have been next to impossible to create in recent years because of the so-called “Over 36” rule, which was put in place to keep teams from signing older players to long contracts they would never reach the end of in order to ease the financial burden on the team. The current rules takes the salary of a player 36 or older and applies it to previous seasons’ salary caps—in essence, forcing the team to pay for those over 36 years before they occur. The new CBA, however, will turn “Over 36” contracts into “Over 38” contracts, allowing teams to sign older players to longer deals.

• Creation of “two-way” contracts that will pay players who shuttle between their parent teams and Development League teams depending on where they’re playing. There will be additional roster spots on NBA teams as well to accommodate the two-way players. Players on those contracts will receive more money if they go to the D League, with the hope of keeping them from taking deals overseas.

• A new “designated veteran player exception” has been created, adding a sixth year for players on rookie contracts who meet certain criteria.

• The current “one and done” rule allowing college players to declare for the NBA Draft once they’ve completed a year of college or have been out of high school for a year, will remain in place. The league has sought to increase the age limit to 20; the union has resisted that and would prefer no limit or a rule similar to that of Major League Baseball. MLB allows high school players to declare for its draft but prohibits players who opt to attend college from declaring until after their junior year in college. The union sought a so-called “zero and two” compromise that would allow high schoolers in the NBA Draft but keep college players from declaring until after their sophomore season in college.

• Health care packages for retired players, and increased benefits for current players, including a tuition reimbursement fund, will be co-funded by the union and by the league.

• A shorter preseason, with no more than six exhibition games before the start of the regular season and an earlier start to the regular season, which should further reduce both back to back games and stretches of four games in five nights.

Discussions between the league and union were held in relative quiet over the past several months, with almost none of the rancor between the sides that had impeded progress in previous CBA talks. To be fair, former Commissioner David Stern and former NBPA Executive Director Billy Hunter never had the financial winds at their backs as Silver and Roberts do; it’s a lot easier to split a pie of this size.

How big?

The union claims that franchise valuations have increased by an average of 240 percent since the end of the 2011 lockout, while player salaries have increased by just nine percent. Television ratings for The Finals between Golden State and Cleveland were the highest in almost 20 years, since Michael Jordan’s last championship with the Bulls in 1998. And Forbes Magazine estimated the average franchise value of NBA teams to be more than $1 billion this year.

“Would the personalities be different, would the tone and attitudes be different, if we were in that (previous) economic climate? It’s hard to say,” said one source with knowledge of the discussions between the sides. “She (Roberts) can be very tough, but at the same time, she can also be very reasonable. And he, likewise. I’ve seen all sides of Adam. But he’s definitely, he’s made every effort to appear to be reasonable and open.”

Longtime NBA reporter, columnist and Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer David Aldridge is an analyst for TNT. You can e-mail himhere, findhis archive hereandfollow him on Twitter.

 

[MirORich]

Similar info/intel from Woj:

http://sports.yahoo.com/news/nba-players-association-agree-to-new-seven-year-cba-012903335.html

The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association have agreed to a new seven-year Collective Bargaining Agreement.

The deal could potentially deliver labor peace to the NBA through the 2023-24 season – with a mutual opt-out available to be exercised in 2022.

The owners and players must ratify the deal negotiated by NBA commissioner Adam Silver and NBPA executive director Michele Roberts, but that is considered a relative formality. The league and union have agreed to extend the Thursday deadline to opt out of the previous deal until Jan. 13 to allow the sides to ratify the agreement.

The deal includes a great deal of status quo economically, including no change in the Basketball Related Income split of 50-50 and negligible change in the salary-cap and luxury-tax rules, league sources said.

In an effort to incentivize players to re-sign with their own teams, designated veteran star players will be able to sign five-year extensions with a year left on their current deals – an additional year over the four years previously allowed, league sources said. For example, Oklahoma City and Indiana could re-sign Russell Westbrook and Paul George, respectively, to deals this summer that could keep them under contract for the next six seasons.

This rule will also be focused on players headed into their second contracts and headed toward restricted free agency, as well as players moving toward unrestricted free agency. It will allow players to be guaranteed more money to stay with their current teams over testing the free-agent market.

Criteria for those designated players will be based on achievements, including appearances on All-NBA teams and Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year award winners, league sources said.

The NBA’s 36-and-over rule that prohibits players from signing a five-year maximum contract if their 36th birthday falls during the life of the deal has changed to a 38-and-under rule, league sources said. Several members of the union’s executive committee, including president Chris Paul, vice president LeBron James and executive committee member Carmelo Anthony could benefit financially from the rule.

For now, the NBA will keep its one-and-done rule, allowing college players to enter the NBA draft one year from their high school class graduating, sources said. Nevertheless, the league and union will continue discussing alternatives to the draft-entry rule and could agree to change the early-entry rule over the course of the labor agreement, league sources said.

The NBA will raise rookie, veteran minimum and mid-level exception salaries by 50 percent, pushing the average salary of an NBA player in the range of $8.5 million, league sources said.

Two-way contracts between the NBA and NBA Development 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 said.