The NBA And Players Union Reach Tentative Agreement On New Seven-Year CBA
ESPN- The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association jointly announced Wednesday night that they have reached a tentative agreement on a new collective bargaining agreement, pending ratification by the league’s players and team owners.
The sides have agreed to extend their mutual deadline to opt out of the existing CBA, which was Thursday at 11:59 p.m. ET, to Jan. 13 in order to give them sufficient time to review terms and hold the separate votes required to ratify the seven-year deal, which contains an opt-out clause for both parties after Year 6.
If you are an NBA fan that haaaaates the threat of potential strikes/lockouts/etc., Christmas just came early for you. Okay that’s a stretch because Christmas is fucking awesome. But this deal ensures that for at least the next six years, there will be no lockout or strike and the NBA can continue to grow. Which is great because the NBA is riding a wave of success not seen since the 90s. Plus we don’t have to hear players and owners talk about how there is definitely going to be a work stoppage as a negotiating ploy. I hate that shit.
As for the details of the agreement:
On Wednesday night, the joint statement from the league and the union stated that specific deal terms would be released at a later date, but sources said a prime feature of the new CBA is a number of measures designed to help teams retain their current stars.
It sounds like the focus of this agreement was to keep players like Kevin Durant with their original teams and stop the creation of super teams like the Warriors and Knicks. So you’re welcome for the upcoming years of labor peace, NBA fans.
The league’s average salary is expected to jump from the $5 million range to nearly $9 million annually, with significant jumps — approximately 45 percent — planned for rookie-scale deals, minimum-salary contracts and some free-agent exceptions, including the midlevel exception.
You thought the contracts last summer were ridiculous? It’s only going to get crazier. Timofey Mozgov getting $64 million ain’t got shit on what will be coming in the future. And everyone will continue to lose their minds when those contracts get announced while forgetting that many players will be making A LOT more money. And NFL players are likely crying in their beers as they read this news because they play a contact sport that has multiple hits equal to car crashes for non-guaranteed contracts.
In addition to those planned hikes, sources said teams will have the ability to offer designated veteran star players contract extensions up to five seasons in length (and in some cases six seasons), greatly enhancing the ability of small-market teams to retain their best players. Starting in July, teams such as the Indiana Pacers and Sacramento Kings will be able to offer lucrative long-term extensions to Paul George and DeMarcus Cousins, respectively. These extensions have been modeled after the NBA’s Designated Player Rookie Extension rules.
Now THIS is a change I hate. As a Knicks fan, I know Kristaps Porzingis isn’t going anywhere any time soon. He loves New York as much as New York loves him. But I know that the Knicks are not going to be able to help themselves and will be offering huge 6-year deals to guys with injury concerns, weight concerns, motivational concerns, or all of the above concerns (See: Eddy Curry). This will lead to Knicks fans rooting for an amnesty clause in the next CBA more than they actually root for their own team.
Speaking of amnesty clauses, every Knicks fan is hoping this CBA will have one “Get Out Of Shitty Contract Free” card.
There will be no amnesty clause in the new CBA, sources say. There have been amnesty clauses in the past two CBAs, allowing teams to waive players and have their salaries removed from the salary cap.
SHIT! And that sound you heard was Joakim Noah popping open a bottle of million dollar champagne.
Moving along…
The early-entry age for the NBA draft will continue to be 19, with the stipulation that American players must also be one year removed from high school to be draft eligible.
*Coach Cal does fist pump*
Maximum roster size, though, will rise from 15 to 17 players, with the extra slots earmarked for players on “two-way contracts,” as seen in the NHL. Those contracts stipulate that a player’s salary is based on NBA minimums when the player is “up” and an estimated $75,000 when the player is on assignment in the NBA Development League.
I don’t know if Jimmer would still be with the Knicks if this rule existed last year and to be honest it’s still too painful to think about.
As ESPN reported earlier this month, significant changes to the regular-season schedule are forthcoming, which are designed to reduce the number of back-to-back sets and four-games-in-five-nights stretches that teams currently face. The 2017-18 season, sources said, will start in the Oct. 17-18 range, one week earlier than it did this season (Oct. 25).
If you like sloppy basketball with tired players, this is a rough morning for you. Same if you figured out the best way to bet against tired teams playing 4 games in 5 nights. But for the non-masochists and degenerates of the world, this is fantastic news. Plus the season starts a little earlier which makes October even more the king of sports months.
And since the players and union reps seem happy, this has to be chalked up as a win for the NBA. Well almost all the players seemed happy.
Other players reacted quickly on social media to the agreement, including Golden State’s Draymond Green, who said “one day we will get it right … maybe.”
If something pisses off noted dick crusher Draymond Green, it has to be good, right?