NBA, players' union reach deal for a new labor agreement

The NBAwill have labor peace for years to come.

The leagueand its players came to an agreement early Saturday on a newseven-year collective bargaining agreement, the NBA announced. Itis still pending ratification, though that process is almostcertainly no more than a formality.

The dealwill begin this summer and will last at least through the 2028-29season. Either side can opt out then; otherwise, it will lastthrough 2029-30.

Among thedetails, per a person familiar with the negotiations who spoke toThe Associated Press: the in-season tournament that CommissionerAdam Silver has wanted for years will become reality, and playerswill have to appear in at least 65 games in order to be eligiblefor the top individual awards such as Most Valuable Player. Theperson spoke on condition of anonymity because neither the leaguenor the National Basketball Players Association released specificspublicly.

Another newpart of the CBA will be a second luxury tax level that, whenreached, will keep teams from using their midlevel exception tosign players. That was a clear compromise, given how some teamswanted the so-called “upper spending limit” that would haveessentially installed an absolute ceiling on what can be spent eachseason and help balance the playing field between the teams thatare willing to pay enormous tax bills and those who aren’t.

Not in theCBA is a change to the policy that would allow high school playersto enter the NBA draft. It was discussed and has been an agendaitem for months, but it won’t be changing anytime soon — probablynot for at least the term of the next CBA.

“We alsoappreciate that there is a lot of benefit to really having veteranswho can bring those 18-year-olds along,” NBPA executive directorTamika Tremaglio said in February during an NBPA news conference atAll-Star weekend. “And so, certainly anything that we would evenconsider, to be quite honest, would have to include a componentthat would allow veterans to be a part of it as well.”

Silver saidWednesday, at the conclusion of a two-day Board of Governorsmeeting, that he was hopeful of getting a deal done by the weekend.He also said there had been no consideration — at least on theleague’s part — of pushing the opt-out date back for a thirdtime.

The currentCBA, which took effect July 1, 2017, came with a mutual option foreither the NBA or the NBPA to opt out after six seasons — June 30of this year. The sides originally had a Dec. 15 deadline toannounce an intention to exercise the opt-out, then pushed it backto Feb. 8, then to Friday.

The leagueand the union continued talking after the midnight opt-out deadlinepassed, and a deal was announced nearly three hours later.

Theagreement doesn’t end the process, though it’s obviously a hugestep forward.

The ownerswill have to vote on what the negotiators have hammered out, andthe players will have to vote to approve the deal as well. Thencomes the actual writing of the document — the most recent CBAchecked in at around 600 pages containing nearly 5,000 paragraphsand 200,000 words. Much of it will be the same; much of it willneed revising.