NBA and NBPA agree to a new 7-year collective bargaining agreement sports

The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association have reached an agreement on a new seven-year collective bargaining agreement, which promises labor peace for the rest of the decade, sources told ESPN on Saturday morning.

The tentative deal, which begins with the 2023-24 season, was announced by the league and union and is expected to be ratified by league governors and players in the coming weeks. The deal includes a mutual opt-out after the sixth year, sources told ESPN.

The agreement came early Saturday morning after both sides agreed to extend the midnight ET deadline for the league to opt out of the final year of the previous collective bargaining agreement. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver, NBPA Executive Director Tamika Tremaglio and negotiators from both sides, including the NBA’s Dan Rube and the union’s Ron Klempner, hammered out the remaining details of the deal, the sources said.

After two extensions to the early opt-out deadline, league negotiations with Tremaglio and new NBPA president CJ McCollum reached an agreement months before a possible work stoppage.

Among the key initial elements of the deal described to ESPN:

• The NBA is curbing the ability of top-spending teams like the Golden State Warriors and LA Clippers to keep increasing salaries and luxury tax spending while maintaining mechanisms to add talent to the roster. The NBA is implementing a second salary cap — $17.5 million over the tax line — and those teams will no longer have access to the taxpayers’ mid-tier in free agency. Those changes will be smoothed out in the salary cap over a period of years.

Under these trades, Golden State’s Donte DiVincenzo, Milwaukee’s Joe Ingles, Boston’s Danilo Gallinari and former Clippers guard John Wall would not have been able to sign with those teams last summer.

As a counterweight to those spending constraints, the new CBA is expected to create more spending and trade opportunities for teams in the mid- and low-spending spectrum. There will be an opening up of more opportunities in the free agent market, including larger trade exceptions.

• In an attempt to curb load management and missed games among star players, the NBA is tying eligibility for postseason awards such as All-NBA and MVP teams to a mandatory 65 games played. The 65 game minimum comes with a few conditions.

• The seasonal tournament could come as soon as the 2023-24 season. The event will include pool play built into the regular season schedule beginning in November, with eight teams advancing to a single-elimination tournament in December. The Final Four will take place at a neutral site, with Las Vegas high up in the discussion, the sources said.

Each tournament game of the season would count toward the regular season standings; the two finalists would ultimately play 83 regular season games. Winning players and coaches will earn additional cash prizes.

• The NBA and NBPA have agreed to increase the upper limits on extensions from an increase of 120% in a current deal to 140%, which could have a significant impact on the future of stars like Celtics forward Jaylen Brown.

Under current rules, Brown would be allowed to sign a four-year extension worth $165 million. However, with the extension rules increased to 140%, Brown, who will earn $31.8 million in the 2023-24 season, the final year of his current contract, could hit his four-year high of $189 million. , according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.

Similarly, Sacramento Kings All-Star center Domantas Sabonis could currently sign a four-year, $111 million extension, one that jumps to $121 million with the increase to 140%.

• There is an increase in two-way contract slots, jumping from two to three per team. Two-way contracts were created in the 2017 collective bargaining agreement as a vehicle for teams to develop younger players. It has been seen as a success, as it has become a route for players to win long-term houses in the league, and in several cases become major contributors.

Some of the biggest success stories to come out of the two-way pipeline include: Austin Reaves and Alex Caruso with the Los Angeles Lakers; Duncan Robinson and Max Strus with the Miami Heat; Anthony Lamb with the Warriors; José Alvarado with the New Orleans Pelicans; and Luguentz Dort with the Oklahoma City Thunder.

ESPN’s Tim Bontemps and Bobby Marks contributed to this report.