With news that the NBA and its player’s association had reached a new collective bargaining agreement, fans can be assured that the league won’t see a lockout until 2029 at the earliest.
However the new deal will have an impact far greater than simply assuring that games will go on uninterrupted for the foreseeable future. Everything from the salary cap, to free agency, postseason awards, and the structure of the season itself was tweaked in some way shape or form in the new pact.
So without further ado, here are the most significant changes to the new CBA.
Luxury Tax:
If you’re a San Antonio Spurs fan you can essentially skip this section as very little will apply to you until the team is ready to start making a push for the playoffs again. Golden State fans however may feel themselves growing increasingly uncomfortable based on the language of the new luxury tax system.
In the last version of the CBA there existed a $6M level above the luxury tax threshold which triggered a series of restrictions on what teams could and could not do with player salaries and acquisitions. In the new version, this “first tier” penalty system will still exist, but there will now be the introduction of a second tier system which will kick in once teams spend in excess of $17.5M over the cap.
Teams whose payroll exceeds the second tier penalty line will no longer be able to use the mid-level exception to sign free agents. They’ll also no longer be able to sign players on the buyout market either, effectively handcuffing them to the rosters they have and making trades one of the few means to add to their rosters in season.
In 2022-23, this would mean that players like Joe Ingles or John Wall would not have been able to sign deals beyond the league minimum to join their respective teams. Furthermore, teams that cross the second tier risk triggering a “hard cap” if their previously utilized taxpayer mid-level exception takes them beyond the $17.5M luxury tax threshold.
In short, this means that if a team were to acquire a free agent in the offseason via the taxpayer mid-level exception, and this pushes the team payroll beyond the $17.5M luxury tax threshold, it will trigger a hard cap which they cannot exceed via trades or signings. An example of this in action had it been in place this past season, would have meant that Dallas would have been unable to acquire Kyrie Irving (unless they were to have dumped significant salary elsewhere) as they took on an additional $8M in salary in the deal.
Now, before Clippers fans begin working themselves into a tizzy, keep in mind that these rules would only affect new acquisitions, and wouldn’t prevent teams from doling out new contracts to existing roster players. In essence this means teams will still spend well beyond the salary cap under the new CBA, but the way which they construct their rosters will need to drastically shift to a “homegrown” model as opposed to hired guns on the free agent front.
When it comes to trades, teams who fall above the second tier are far from in the clear either. If they exceed the $17.5M level, they will be unable to send cash as part of any deal.
Moreover, they cannot complete deals where they take back more salary than they send out, nor can they move 1st round picks more than 6 years into the future. The new parameters aren’t meant to prevent star players from being dealt, but rather to limit the number of teams to which they can be moved.
Rookies:
As part of the new agreement, all rookie-scale extensions can now last for 5 years. In the past, only max salary contracts were eligible for the 5 year extension which caused mass panic in the state of Wisconsin as Giannis Antetokounmpo nearly walked due to the restrictions around his deal under the previous CBA.
Also new is the creation of a rookie salary scale for second round picks as well. Under the previous arrangement, only 1st round picks were subject to a rookie scale, giving GMs carte-blanche to tweak their 2nd round selections deals as they saw fit. Usually this meant earning the league minimum.
There will now be a designated cap exception for all second round draft picks, which will affect both future picks as well as those currently playing on their first contract in the Association.
NBA Draft:
All players will now be required to undergo a physical exam, with the results being distributed to teams. This was introduced to undercut some of the more savvy agents who would play fast and loose with what teams they would provide medical records to in an attempt to steer their clients to certain franchises.
Surprisingly the infamous “one and done” rule remains in place following the new ratification of the CBA. Many had speculated that high school players would once again be eligible for the NBA draft in the new version, however no changes were announced on that front.
Awards:
In a nod to fans who had been clamouring for the league to step in and put a stop to some of the more egregious “load management” DNPs, the new CBA will feature a minimum of 65 games played in order to be eligible for both individual and All-NBA awards.
Because there are escalator clauses and financial incentives for players to be selected for such honours, the hope is that it will mean players (at least the healthy ones) will think twice about sitting out more than a handful of games per year. Now, whether this means we simply get All-Star calibre players take the opening tip and then sub out at the first whistle remains to be seen. Hopefully there will be some language in the agreement to prevent such loopholes.
In-season Tournament:
One of the most intriguing developments is the creation of an in-season tournament in the new agreement. While all the details haven’t been fully divulged as of yet, it sounds as though there will be six intraconference pools of five teams.
On designated days during the first 6 weeks of the regular season, teams will play group games, with the winners of each pool and two wildcards advancing to a single elimination tournament. Semi-Finals and the Finals will be held at a neutral site with the winners receiving $500K in cash for each player on the team.
How well this will be received, and whether players truly buy into it is up for discussion. But the new wrinkle will be nothing if not entertaining, and moves closer to the European soccer model of mid-season tournaments, breaks, and international games.
Odds & Ends:
Players will now be able to own minority shares in NBA and WNBA teams. They’ll also be able to be sponsored by sports books, and cannabis companies so long as the state they play in is one in which those items are legalized.
And finally, the new CBA has also eliminated drug testing for cannabis making it a legal substance in the NBA.
All in all the new collective bargaining agreement had concessions for both players and owners alike. While we omitted many of the more nuanced items, things like revenue sharing and licensing agreements were heavily negotiated, but will have little effect on the viewing experience of the average fan.
The new CBA kicks in immediately for the 2023-24 season, and will last for seven years unless both sides agree to exercise a mutual opt out clause after year six.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @JKyleSkinner
Photo: Keith Allison. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license.