What you need to know about the NBA's new CBA

The 2016-17 NBA season is upon us and there is already plenty of good news abound for the future of the league before one game has even been played.

In the lead-up to the regular season, reports have run rampant that the NBA and the National Basketball Players’ Association (NBPA) have agreed to the outlines of a brand new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA). Each side has until December 15, 2016 to opt out of the current CBA — agreed upon after the horrible, no good, awful, bad lockout of 2011 — but it seems that the two might have a new one in place well before that deadline hits.

For all the horror that the missed games brought in 2011, two CBA changes from the lockout have had longstanding effects on the NBA. First, the new deal made it so veterans had more financial benefits by becoming free agents instead of signing contract extensions with their current teams. Secondly, it introduced the repeater tax (a punitive measure created in hopes of keeping super teams from forming…which played a role in the departures of both Kevin Durant and LeBron James).

The NBA is currently at an all-time high in terms of popularity and it wouldn’t have benefitted anyone for there to be another work stoppage. It seems as if both sides came into these proceedings fully aware of this fact. NBA commissioner Adam Silver and NBPA executive director Michele Roberts have been hammering out negotiations between the two sides for months.

With a new multiyear agreement coming down the pipe, let’s break down some of the details that have been reported so far.

New deal runs through 2023-24

SEVEN YEARS OF LABOR PEACE! There is a clause allowing both sides to opt out of the deal after six years as well, according to The Vertical’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

However, the length is a very positive sign for fans. Both sides sense the growth the NBA has undergone and want to make sure it stays that way. If that does happen, then we should have another renegotiation in 2022.

BRI split remains the same

Basketball Related Income (BRI) was the biggest issue between the players and the owners during the 2011 lockout. The players got the lion’s share of BRI for a long time, but the owners pushed back in 2011. With a lot of money coming into the league, the owners felt that they should receive a higher percentage than in the past.

In the end, the two sides agreed upon a 51-49 split. That will remain the case in the newest iteration of the CBA. Who gets what percentage of the split is decided after the percentage of players’ contracts is calculated in relation to BRI. If the contracts don’t reach the necessary level, players get the 51 percent. If they do, the owners get the 51 percent.

After getting over $20 BILLION in the latest television deal, it would have been poor on both sides to quarrel over money again in these negotiations.

Max contracts for players over 36

A rule instituted in past CBAs stated that any player signing a five-year contract that would go through their age 36 season would not be allowed to receive a max salary. That rule is no more. The agreement in principle would move that stipulation back to players that are 38 and older.

This may be the biggest star-driven outcome from the early disclosures on the new CBA. The NBPA hierarchy is as follows:

President — Chris Paul
Vice President — LeBron James
Executive Committee Member — Carmelo Anthony

Those three are 31, 31, and 32 years old respectively. Each has potentially one more big contract — CP3’s coming after this season — and with the new rule they should all be able to make sure it is a max contract.

This change will also help teams avoid having to hand out “lifetime achievement” award type of deals, like the one we saw with the Los Angeles Lakers and Kobe Bryant.

One-and-done lives on

The NBA has not been a fan of the “one-and-done” rule since its inception in the 2005 CBA. However, it looks as if that discussion has once again been placed on hold. Early reports state that any player entering the draft will have to wait at least a year after graduating from high school to be eligible. The belief was that the NBA would push hard to up the wait time to two years, but that won’t be the case.

Two-way contracts

Carmelo Anthony recently spoke out about the low salaries offered in the NBA Development League, and it seems his voice was heard. The sides have agreed in principle to adopt two-way contracts into the new CBA.

These contacts would allow NBA teams to now hold up to 17 players on their roster and have up to two players on the new two-way deals. The teams would be able to pay a player differently depending on if they’re with the D-League team or the NBA team.

This is a step in the right direction in terms of the D-League acting like a true minor league to the NBA. Right now, compensation for players not in the NBA is often better overseas. If the pay was equal, or even close, we would likely see more players remain in the United States as they attempt to make it into the NBA.

Contract scale raises

The rookie scale, veteran minimum, and free-agent exceptions have all remained at previously set numbers despite the salary cap skyrocketing. Not any more. The NBA will raise all three and may even have a built-in tie to the salary cap under the new CBA. League sources have been quoted as saying these salaries could all rise 50 percent from what they were previously. ESPN’s Marc Stein reported that the Mid Level Exception will increase from 5.6 million to 8 million annually.

For more info on the current CBA, check out Larry Coon’s NBA Salary Cap FAQ page.

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What you need to know about the NBA’s new CBA

By Brandon Jefferson | Oct 25, 2016