The NBA and the NBPA are set to meet the week in an effort to continue negotiations on a new collective bargaining agreement, according to a report from ESPN’s Ian Begley and Dave McMenamin. The Wednesday meeting, a day ahead of the league’s annual board of governors gathering, signals the rising optimism that a new deal will be made and a work stoppage avoided:
The current collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the NBAPA runs through June 2021, with both sides holding the right until Dec. 15 to express an intent to opt out in 2017.
But NBA commissioner Adam Silver said last week that he expects the parties to come to terms on a new CBA before the opt-out deadline.
“Both sides have been very engaged and eager to get a deal done,” Silver said.
Speaking in China last week ahead of the 10th annual Global Games, Silver revealed that he spoke to Roberts during a recent league visit to Spain and said he would continue to pursue a fast resolution with the Players Association that avoids a lockout or any loss of games.
Negotiations on the last CBA led to a five-month work stoppage that lasted until December 2011 and shortened the 2011-12 season by 16 games, marking only the second time in league history that a labor impasse led to a reduced schedule.
With the league in a healthy state and money flowing into the game at unprecedented levels, there is strong motivation on all sides to avoid a work stoppage this time around.
“We don’t want to strike and they don’t want to strike,” New York Knicks star Carmelo Anthony, who is on the union’s executive committee, said earlier this week. “So the best thing to do is really figure it out sooner rather than later.
“We want to try to get something done. I think the NBA and the owners are very receptive to that, and we are, too. I think [in the 2011 negotiation] we were so far away from each other. You can feel the difference, you can see the difference, you can see the reaction, you can see the contact we’re having, the information that’s being sent on both sides. I think we’re closer to getting something done. Hopefully it’ll get done soon.”
