ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski shared some encouraging news on Friday afternoon.
According to the insider, the NBA and NBPA could be only a handful of hours away from agreeing upon a new CBA deal.
While Wojnarowski noted that there are still “gaps to close” this is a promising update with the next opt-out window arriving at midnight. The goal is clearly for both parties to finally agree upon a new deal to avoid pushing negotiations further down the line. The league has already extended the opt-out deadline twice thus far. Commissioner Adam Silver claimed earlier this week, however, that the NBA likely wouldn’t choose an extension again, putting more pressure on the two parties to reach a handshake.
If the NBA did choose to opt out, that signals to the NBPA that they’re prepared to play hardball and thus increases the chances of a lockout. With the current CBA ending in just three months, that isn’t a road anyone prefers to go down.
Wojnarowski also reported that this CBA deal will apparently not include a change to the draft eligibility age. The league was expected to allow top prospects to enter the draft straight out of high school, but it turns out that proposal has potentially fallen right.
Anyway, we’ll keep you updated on the status of these talks. I know all this stuff might seem kind of boring, but it really does hold significant ramifications. As we said, the current CBA ends in June when this NBA season comes to a close. Without a deal agreed upon, the league basically can’t move forward with any offseason activities.