History is not destined to repeat itself in the NBA.
Not this time.
Or so it seems.
Plenty of people have been worried about there being a potential NBA lockout in 2017, when both the owners and players have the right to opt out of their current. Commissioner Adam Silver, though, doesn’t think that’s going to happen, per ESPN’s Rachel Nichols:
Today on #TheJump, Adam Silver says that on a scale of 1-10, he's at "10" thinking there will be no NBA Lockout. https://t.co/spgSIuV91B
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) March 23, 2016
This. Is. Awesome.
Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski first reported that the two sides were having covert collective bargaining agreement talks. The very existence of that dialogue is encouraging, as it implies both sides are committed to evading a lockout and willing to be proactive to do it.
The summer of 2017, after all, is going to be an important one, what with Stephen Curry, Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, Russell Westbrook and scores of other stars slated to reach free agency. An impending lockout would put a damper on the proceedings, and no one wants a work stoppage like the one the NBA faced in 2011-12.
So here’s hoping that things continue to progress in the way Silver thinks they will, and that, subsequently, it’ll be at least another half-decade before we start entertaining the possibility of another lockout.