Multiple media outlets reported Thursday night that the NBA Players Association has approved the league’s plans to start the 2020-21 season on Dec. 22, and the NBPA a short time later released a statement confirming the reports.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that the regular season will be 72 games. Still to come are finalizations on an amended collective bargaining agreement, which Wojnarowski said would take “into next week.”
He reported that the trade moratorium will be lifted before the league’s draft, which will be held on Nov. 18.
The NBPA player rep vote has completed, approving a December 22 start/72-game regular season, source tells ESPN. Next up: NBA/NBPA finishes financial terms on amended CBA, which will take into next week. Expect trade moratorium to be lifted shortly prior to Nov. 18 Draft.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 6, 2020
The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported that, as has been rumored, the salary cap for next season will be $109 million.
Sources The NBA and NBPA are discussing a minimum of 2 percent annual growth in the salary cap and luxury tax for the duration of the collective bargaining agreement. Cap is expected to be $109M this offseason.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) November 6, 2020
The NBA wanted the season to start in late December, although numerous outlets reported in recent days that players preferred to begin on Martin Luther King Jr. Day Jan. 18. That, however, would resulted in the loss of many hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue.