NEWSLETTER
The NBA and NBPA officially agreed upon a new Collective Bargaining Agreement late last night, the two sides announced in a joint statement.
The news came through at 1:59 a.m. CT after both parties agreed to extend the midnight deadline opt-out to finalize the new contract. This new CBA will take the league through the remainder of the decade, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
To be clear, the deal does still have to go through players and team governors for a vote, but all signs point toward that happening.
Details of the new contract have already started to trickle out. Wojnarowski reported that several of the most pressing topics have been dealt with, including the league’s coveted in-season tournament.
This new addition to the schedule could be fully implemented as soon as next season, and it will involve all 30 NBA teams competing in a “pool play” portion that will be part of their 82-game regular season schedule. The best eight teams will then compete in a single-elimination stage before the “Final Four” head to a natural site.
The mid-season tournament always felt like a fun idea in theory, but I’m still extremely skeptical of players caring enough to make it a spectacle. I just highly doubt the NBA can replicate that playoff feel, even if The Athletic’s Shams Charania is reporting an additional $500,000 for each player on the winning team.
Another major change that Wojnarowski noted is the minimum number of games necessary to qualify for end-of-year awards. Players now must appear in at least 65 games to be in the running for MVP and All-NBA Teams. However, there are apparently conditions in place to offer some wiggle room (likely with injuries).
Some of the more nitty-gritty changes include the implementation of a second salary cap apron and the increase of the max extension. Teams that now spend as much as squads like the Warriors and Clippers will not have the taxpayer mid-level exception at their disposal. Meanwhile, max extensions have now gone from 120 percent of the final year of a player’s contract to 140 percent. You can read more about that in Wojnarowski’s piece here.
Lastly, and this is something I’m probably irrationally excited about, is the addition of a THIRD two-way contract to each roster. While I understand these players rarely find themselves in an NBA rotation, it does give teams another roster spot to use for developmental and evaluation purposes. When we especially consider how much sheer talent there is in today’s NBA, this feels like a great way for more players to have an opportunity to prove what they can do. Not to mention, it provides teams with an even higher likelihood of finding a diamond in the rough.
Anyway, I’m sure we’ll learn a lot more in the coming days/weeks. If there is anything else major, we’ll do a post on it or I’ll share it in bullets!
