Even though Silver and National Basketball Players Association executive director Tamika Tremaglio were in Paris this week, talks between the league and the union continued in New York. “Our colleagues are back in New York, negotiating as we speak,” Silver said. “They’ve been meeting all week, just going issue by issue and trying to work through those issues that separate us. I would say, though, that I think we start from a very strong foundation.”
CBA Talks Rumors
So far, the talks are proceeding: Without great animus. The sides just agreed to push back a deadline for a new collective bargaining deal from December to February. Largely in secret. The sides have vowed to clamp down on leaks, and thus far it seems to be working because even teams that don’t have representation on the negotiating committee have been kept at a distance so far, sources told ESPN. One item that appears to be an issue are the rules allowing rich teams to continue a wild spending spree that has dwarfed their midsized rivals, multiple sources told ESPN.
NBA, NBPA extends deadline to opt out of current CBA
Adrian Wojnarowski: ESPN Sources: With labor talks ongoing, the NBA and Players Association are agreeing to extend the Dec. 15 deadline that each side has to give notice of plans to opt out of the current CBA in Dec. 2023. Ratification of extension will come at Board of Governors meeting Wednesday.
Adrian Wojnarowski: The negotiating extension is expected to be into February, sources said, and allows sides to continue negotiating on a new labor deal. The current CBA expires at the end of the 2023-2024 season.
Bobby Marks: Back in 2016, the NBA and PA extended the 12/15 opt-out date to 1/13 despite an agreement reached in mid-December. The extension was needed for both sides to ratify the new CBA.
NBA, NBPA not close to a deal on new collective bargaining agreement
Far more crucially: Dec. 15, 2022, is also the deadline in the NBA’s current collective bargaining agreement for both sides — either the league or the players — to give notice that it is opting out of the existing labor deal. The NBA’s current labor pact runs through the 2023-24 season, but an opt-out from either side in the next nine days would sound immediate alarm bells because A) it essentially breaks the contract effective at the end of this season and B) it’s a measure that instantly makes the threat of a lockout tangible.
With the sides nowhere close to a new deal, according to sources briefed on the talks, it would appear that an extension to that deadline will have to be announced very soon for the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association to extend the runway toward hashing out a new labor pact during the 2022-23 season with any semblance of cooperative spirit.
