SALT LAKE CITY — The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association reached an agreement to extend the 60-day window that gives the league the ability to terminate the collective bargaining agreement amid the current pandemic until September, according to a report by ESPN.
The current CBA has a clause that outlines what could happen if a “force majeure event” were to take place, which includes epidemics. If a force majeure event were to take place the NBA could withhold a portion of each players salary for games missed and the league could terminate the CBA within 60 days of the event. The extension essentially gives the NBA and NBPA more time to try to figure out a way to resume games rather than the NBA using the force majeure clause.
The extension also allows the NBPA and NBA to continue to work through projections on what kind of financial impact the loss of revenue will have on future cap numbers.
Under normal circumstances the salary cap is calculated between the NBA draft and the summer’s free agency period and is based on the prior season’s revenue.
Since these aren’t normal circumstances and there will likely be a heavy change in the cap many teams are interested in knowing an outcome before the draft because it could impact how they make deals moving forward.
Additionally, the uncertainty surrounding the 2020-21 season makes calculations and negotiations even more difficult because there will likely be a significant loss of revenue that extends through next season as well making projections and any guess work very tricky.
According to multiple reports the league office, owners, and players are optimistic that they can work through the financial complexities that they are facing and find a common ground that works for everyone, though the difficulty of that task still looms large.