Rumors

Adrian Wojnarowski: ESPN Sources: As discussions on a new labor agreement continue, the NBA and National Basketball Players Association are expected to extend an early opt-out deadline of Wednesday, allowing the league and union to continue talks on a long-term collective bargaining deal.

Twitter

Adrian Wojnarowski: In a perfect world, teams would be able to make deadline trades with full understanding of league's future economic structure, but sources say NBA has shown a willingness to step back from its initial push for an upper spending limit on payrolls to get an early labor deal done.

Twitter

Adrian Wojnarowski: The NBA’s Board of Governors voted on Friday to give the league’s labor relations committee the authority to give notice of that June 30 opt-out on the current CBA, or extend the deadline again, sources told ESPN. For now, though, the league and union intend to extend deadline.

Twitter

The NBA’s seven-year CBA expires after the 2023-24 season, but Wednesday’s deadline – already extended once from Dec. 15 – pushes back both sides’ ability to opt-out of the current deal on June 30th and risk the possibility of a lockout.

Twitter

The two most daunting words in the realm of NBA labor relations are suddenly coming up with greater frequency than I’ve ever heard in my three decades covering #thisleague: Hard cap. League sources say that there is an increasing push from the various factions on the league/ownership side to push for a system closer to a true hard cap … with a twist. The current proposals, sources say, don’t actually call it a hard cap, since those words carry such a negative stigma. “Upper Spending Limit,” I’m told, is the nomenclature in play.

marcstein.substack.com

The USL. Sounds like a soccer league, but it’s actually the sort of issue that — depending on the league’s resolve to bargain for it — would almost certainly lead to a work stoppage. "There will be a lockout," one source from the players’ side told me, "before there’s a hard cap."

marcstein.substack.com

Adrian Wojnarowski: Story filed to ESPN: The NBA is pursuing the implementation of an upper salary limit in its negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement with the National Basketball Players Association, a systematic change that has been met with significant union resistance.

Twitter

Adrian Wojnarowski: In wake of large market contenders Golden State, Brooklyn and the Los Angeles Clippers running up massive payrolls and luxury tax penalties, the NBA's proposing a system that would replace the luxury tax with a hard limit that teams could not exceed to pay salaries, sources said.

Twitter

Adrian Wojnarowski: The league’s proposal has been met with the firm resistance of the NBPA, to the point of the union considering it a non-starter in discussions, sources said.

Twitter

Zach Lowe: Have heard escalated rumblings of league pursuing this in the last week -- partly/mostly a response to GSW/LAC spending over the last two seasons. Has been a major subject of chatter at games. To put it *very* lightly, the union will object strenuously.

Twitter

Kevin Durant: I feel u. I think the league is in a great place, I don’t believe there will be a lockout but who really knows.

Twitter

It was the summer of 2011, and players in the National Basketball Association were in the midst of a heated lockout. At a time when players would typically be gearing up to report to NBA training camp in September, the stars were looking for any morsel of competition to keep their skills sharp. Thanks to the conflict over dispersion of revenue, the salary cap and luxury tax, it resulted in generational talents such as James, Bryant and Durant making their first Drew League appearances during that remarkable summer.

The Athletic

The MLB is entering a lockout period and the NBPA released a statement in support of their counterparts in baseball. "Not even close," said Adrian Wojnarowski when asked if the MLB lockout foreshadows potential labor issues in the future for the NBA.

RealGM

Wojnarowski highlighted how the MLB has an adversarial relationship with its players currently unlike the NBPA in which they have successfully worked through a number of issues. The NBA and NBPA both want to get a deal done by December 2022 when both sides have a mutual out they can exercise for the 22-23 season. "They have an interest in not having another lockout," said Ramona Shelburne.

RealGM