NBA, players agree to new labor deal

Posted on Tue, Jun. 21, 2005

NBA, players agree to new labor deal

Associated Press


NEW YORK - NBA owners and players agreed to a new collective bargaining agreement Tuesday, averting the possibility of a lockout.

The league called a news conference in San Antonio prior to Game 6 of the NBA Finals, with commissioner David Stern and union director Billy Hunter announcing their agreement.

The deal came on the fourth consecutive day of talks between the sides. The league's old seven-year agreement is due to expire on June 30.

Details of the new six-year agreement were not immediately disclosed, but the sides had been trying to reach compromises on several key issues. Among them were the owners' desire to raise the minimum age for draft eligibility to 19, reduce the maximum length of long-term contracts from seven years to six, and reduce the size of annual salary increases in those long-term contracts.

Among the main items the players were seeking was a reduction in the so-called escrow tax under which 10 percent of their salaries are withheld if the amount of revenues devoted to players salaries exceeds a specified percentage.

Owners had already offered to raise the salary cap from slightly more than 48 percent of revenues to 51 percent, thereby increasing the amount of money each team can spend on player salaries.

The NBA has a system known as a "soft" salary cap, allowing teams to exceed the cap threshold to retain their own free agents, and to sign free agents under the so-called midlevel exception that was added to the labor agreement in 1999 after the sides went through a 7 1/2-month lockout.

Another lockout could have begun July 1.

The agreement will still need to be ratified by the league's Board of Governors and by the members of the players' union at their annual meeting in Las Vegas next week.

 

Hats off to Stern & Hunter for not making the same mistakes Bettman & Goodenow made in the NHL.

 

Right on Mike.A lookout all but would have killed the NBA

 

I'm glad that they made an age limit, but 19 is a dumb age that only guarantees one year of play in college. A lot of colleges will be screwed when one of their big time players decide to leave early for the NBA. 20 would've been a lot better. At least we'll get to see players like O.J. Mayo go to college now.

 

Heh, last week they were bracing for a lockout. Guess they heard about the ratings (reposted from the inferior *close* thread)

 

Depends on their birth date. Most will play a year, but some will be able to enter straight from HS, and a few will be eligible 2 years.

 

Well... nevermind.

Stern oversimplified by saying age limit went from 18 to 19

[size=-1]Associated Press[/size]

SAN ANTONIO - When commissioner David Stern announced the NBA's minimum age had been raised from 18 to 19, he was being overly simplistic and inaccurate.

Under terms of the new six-year collective bargaining agreement, there could still be 18-year-olds playing in the NBA.

Previous eligibility rules stated that American players could not become draft-eligible until their high school class graduated - wording that allowed some players to enter the league at 17.

The new rules mandate players to wait one year after their high-school class graduates, meaning that players born in November or December could be appear in NBA games prior to their 19th birthday - provided they graduated at 17.

Rules for international players also changed. Previously, a foreign-born player needed to turn 18 before the draft.

Under the new rules (which will not affect this year's draft next Tuesday in New York), international players must turn 19 by the end of the calendar year in which they become draft eligible - again leaving a two-month window in which an 18-year-old might be playing in the NBA.

 

i honestly don't care about the college game. i find it a bit strange that college atheletes are essentially pro atheletes without the actual pay and students without much actual education. but that's a different topic. the age thing is pointless to me. if you can play, you should be given the opportunity.

my biggest gripe is with contract length. i would like to see a much, much shorter contract length. like 4 years with the option of extension after 2. forget allowing teams to sign their own guys to longer contracts. all that does is make sign-and-trades that much sweeter for fa's. sure, allow a team to go over the cap to sign their own guys and be done with it. maybe give them a little bonus so they can keep players in one place, but i don't really see that working like it's supposed to. instead, you get sign-and-trades to circumvent things.

with a shorter contract length, you don't get these albatross salaries that turn a once mega star into a drain on your team. a guy signs for a 6 year deal, then has a few injuries and suddenly you're stuck with 4 years of no production and 1 quarter or more of your salary space gone. that's just too long to garantee.

the players would never accept that because they think it means less money, but in truth it means more money -- for those who perform. a good 10-20% of all salaries are tied up in contracts that nobody wants, i'd bet. and given the 57% of bri minimum mark, owners are required to spend money -- so why not at least let them spend it on players they want?

 

It's not far enough. A year off the guarantee? Try fixing it so that if some jackass goes into the stands for fighting, then that jackass can be cut the next morning like it's the NFL.

As it is now, that guy forces a trade, refuses to report, and then hooks up with a contender after being released - all while getting paid. Oh wait, that's Alonzo.

 

yeah, it's also jimmy jackson. it was funny listening to how he was being praised during the suns' run. "jimmy jackson has really been a total professional for the suns" and shit like that. hello? was traded and didn't report to the team that traded for him because he didn't want to play there.

yeah, it sucks. garanteed contracts really screw things up. but if a guy's always playing for a contract -- he's gotta start thinking about his new one 2 years after signing a max contract -- then maybe they'll try to keep their nose clean a bit more.

i think suspensions are unpaid, tho. and you can get relief in certain circumstances for your salary cap for such cases as a long suspension.