Associated Press4:25 PM ET4 Minute Read
Adam Silver’s hopeful NBA-CBA deal may be reached by the end of the week
Adam Silver is confident that a new collective bargaining agreement can be finalized between the NBA and its players by the end of this week.
NEW YORK — NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said Wednesday he was confident a new collective bargaining agreement could be finalized between the league and its players by the end of this week, although he did not predict a deal would actually materialize.
“I think everyone gets the point,” Silver said.
The league and National Basketball Players Association must decide by midnight Friday whether to exit the deal and end the current CBA on June 30. That opt-out period has already been extended twice, and Silver said that the NBA’s current plan is to exercise that option if there’s no agreement by Friday night.
“I can certainly see one being done and I hope we can get one done,” Silver said at the end of a two-day league board meeting. “Just because I’m honestly just one side of the negotiation, it’s difficult for me to take a chance on whether or not that’s going to happen.”
The NBPA had no immediate response to Silver’s comments. Both sides have said during this process – and in previous working meetings – that they do not intend to negotiate or discuss details publicly.
The sides have been talking about a new CBA for more than a year, and Silver said he expects negotiations to resume Wednesday night. And if Friday passes without a deal, it wouldn’t be an immediate tragedy as the sides still have three months to get something done before the current CBA expires.
The opt-outs were put in place to avoid the drama of talks being carried to the end of a deal, which would increase the likelihood of a work stoppage.
“There is still a lot to do in the next few days. There’s just something about collective bargaining where deadlines are necessary, and it seems the sides tend to hold their best positions to the end,” Silver said. “Well, I have a feeling this will go on until the end.”
The league has made it clear it wants some changes to the current CBA, and has held talks with the union over issues including a spending cap, a return to a plan where players can jump straight from high school to the draft and enact a minimum Number of games played to qualify for end-of-season awards.
“Every problem seems to be related to every other problem,” Silver said. “If you line up those 10 issues, each issue goes 80% of the way there and everyone is holding their last move to say, ‘Well, okay, maybe I’m ready to do this, but I’m going to wait what you will do on these three topics. And when you take those steps on those three issues, I feel a little more comfortable. “I mean, people trade stuff all the time.”
The current CBA, effective July 1, 2017, came with a reciprocal option for either the NBA or the NBPA to exit after six seasons — June 30 of this year.
The sides originally had until December 15 to announce their intention to exercise the opt-out, then pushed it back to February 8 and then Friday.
A suspension would be damaging on many levels — well beyond the obvious part, how a league is having a record-breaking season (it surpassed $10 billion for the first time last season and basketball revenue hit 8, $9 billion, another record ) would see that momentum disrupted. It could also affect team composition for this summer’s World Cup in the Philippines, as NBA players are expected to fill US and other rosters (and three NBA coaches are expected to be part of the US coaching staff).
It could also disrupt plans for an NBA Summer League in Las Vegas in July, which will see suspected No. 1 draft pick Victor Wembanyama in a global spectacle as the French phenomenon begins his NBA career.
“I think for both sides we recognize that we’ve come closer in different categories,” Silver said. “There’s still a gap between where we think we need to be to close a deal. I would say we had a very positive tone throughout the discussions and continued the strong sense of partnership we have with our players and the players’ association.”