Here is your latest “There won’t be an NBA lockout in 2017” update.
The latest is brought to you by The Ringer’s Kevin O’Connor:
The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association expect to finalize terms on a new collective bargaining agreement “just after Thanksgiving” or in “early December,” a source familiar with the negotiations told The Ringer. The source confirmed previously reported details of the new CBA?—?such as the addition of two-way D-League contracts and more lucrative rookie-scale and veteran-minimum contracts.
O’Connor goes on to detail some of the changes we can expect to see in the new CBA. There is no mention of an amnesty clause, so Los Angeles Lakers fans (Timofey Mozgov), New Orleans Pelicans fans (Omer Asik) and New York Knicks fans (Joakim Noah), among supporters of other teams that have some pretty bad contracts, will have to hope that comes about at the last minute.
The important thing here, though, is the NBA is avoiding a lockout! There will be no truncated schedule! No extra months of dormancy as the league and players association attempt to sort through their differences!
Some were concerned this might be an issue, especially after the new TV deal that the NBA struck with ESPN and Turner Sports, the thought being that the players association would be downright ruthless, trying to recoup all of its losses from the last labor ordeal, and then some, because the owners could no longer cry poverty.
Alas, we won’t have to cross that bridge—though it’s probably a good idea to delay all celebrations until a new deal is actually signed.
