The new collective bargaining agreement, agreed upon by the National Basketball Association and National Basketball Players Association in April, has been officially signed and will go into effect this weekend. The league announced the full agreement to teams on Wednesday — two days before free agency began. The new contract has a term of seven years (until the 2029/30 season), with mutual termination after the sixth year.
The agreement, which can be viewed in full here, is a whopping 676 pages and includes some notable additions. Here’s a look at some of the most notable changes:
- The introduction of an in-season tournament at the start of the 2023-24 season. The tournament features all 30 teams and is held on specific days during the first two months of the regular season. It starts with a group stage, then eight teams advance to the knockout stages. Players from all four final teams will be compensated financially and all games other than the championship will be counted as part of the 82-game regular season schedule.
- There will now be a second salary cap — $17.5 million more than the current one — that will help curb spending at the league’s most expensive teams. Any team that exceeds this threshold loses access to the mid-level taxpayer exemption.
- Single player awards now require a minimum play of 65 games. This includes awards like All-NBA.
- Restrictions limiting contract renewals for Veterans have been relaxed. While most players were previously limited to 120% of their previous salary in the first year of a contract renewal, these players can now earn up to 140% of their previous salary at the start of a new contract.
- Players are no longer prohibited from using marijuana since it was removed from the anti-drug testing program, a process that began in the 2019-20 season.
- Teams can sign three two-way players instead of two.
For a more in-depth look at the changes in the new CBA, see our statement here.
With the CBA officially signed, the NBA will no longer have to worry about work-related downtime for the foreseeable future. The league’s last lockout was in 2011 and lasted from July to December. This shortened the 2011/12 season from 82 to 66 games.
Now the NBA can turn its attention to its next big financial milestone. The league’s current national media rights deal with Disney and Turner expires at the end of the 2024-25 season. The league would certainly prefer to secure a new television contract in time, and the league is reportedly hoping to make three times the $24 billion it received on its last contract.