So says the negotiation stakeout journalists. Details to follow. HowardBeckNYT Howard Beck Been waiting two months to say this: Looking like a season. How u. 2 minutes ago HowardBeckNYT Howard Beck Waiting now on joint presser w/Stern and Hunter 2 minutes ago HowardBeckNYT Howard Beck Deal done, source says. NBA is back. sheridanhoops Chris Sheridan News briefing will be with Stern and Hunter together. First time that has happened since lockout began. Should start any minute. 40 seconds ago sheridanhoops Chris Sheridan News briefing will be with Stern and Hunter together. First time that has happened since lockout began. Should start any minute. 40 seconds ago KBergCBS Ken Berger Agreement will be followed reforming of the union, which must be recognized by the owners -- a formality, pending finalization of details. 2 minutes ago KBergCBS Ken Berger Officials from both sides will address media jointly in conference room of Manhattan law office momentarily. 4 minutes ago KBergCBS Ken Berger BREAKING: Tentative agreement reached, according to one of the negotiators. #NBA #lockout WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski The players will have to reform the union, and the 450-plus players will still have to ratify a deal to make it official. 2 minutes ago WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski Ken Berger of CBSSports.com first reported deal done. 3 minutes ago WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski The NBA and players will make announcement in a joint news conference soon, source says. The NBA is back. 4 minutes ago WojYahooNBA Adrian Wojnarowski The NBA and players have reached an agreement on a deal, source says. The season will start on Dec. 25.
If you want to see the press conference, it's on NBA.com. The reports are that the two sides agreed to the players getting between 49% and 51% of BRI dependent on revenue. A 10-year deal with an opt out for either side after 6 years. Other details are being withheld (at least officially) until the players and owners can be briefed. However, most reports I've seen indicate that the luxury tax will be a graduated affair (harsher penalties the more you spend) and for the first time, tax-paying teams will also be subject to "competitive" penalties (e.g., lower mid-level exception than non-tax-paying teams). If this doesn't sound all that different than the deal the players rejected before their union disclaimed interest, I think when the facts are known, we'll find that it isn't, though I suspect that the owners gave the players some face-saving concession. Anyway, I'm very happy that we'll have NBA games by Christmas. Edit: Update on face-saving changes per Adrian Wojnarowski: - No restrictions on Carmelo-type "extend & trades." Restrictions were reportedly part of the owners' previous offer. - Max salary no longer based on service...max salary is 30% of cap. This would take DRose's salary from about $13.6mil to about $17mil for the 2012-13 season, making it a good deal harder for the Bulls to stay under the luxury tax threshold. Actually, I see these as fairly substantive, particularly the first one which I thought the owners would (and should) adhere to. The second changes things, but I had read that the owners and players agreed in principle that players coming off their rookie deals should be eligible to get more, so it may not have been that big of an owner concession.
I was surprised by how much movement there was from the owners, especially since they didn't even really need to lock in a deal yesterday -- they still had Saturday and Sunday. I was most surprised by the change to the way the players' share of BRI escalates. That was an issue that seemed to me to be off the table. It makes me think something changed leverage wise in the players' favor. It's probably the schedule and the threat of missing Christmas games. Maybe the owners just grew tired. Another possibility though is that the antitrust actions actually did create additional leverage. If that's the case I'm going to be pissed. The players could have had this knocked out months ago. I suppose we'll never actually know the reason why a couple of owners softened their stances.
As the facts come in, here are a couple corrections to the above: - While "extend & trades" are still allowed, the max length of these contracts is 3 years. - Max salaries are the same as under the 2005 agreement, but there's a new "Designated Player" rule. Under the Designated Player rule, any player in the 5th year of his rookie contract can be offered by his own team a 5-year extension starting at 30% of the cap. A Designated Player must have one of these 3 distinctions: 1) named to all-NBA 1st, 2nd or 3rd teams twice, 2) voted in as an All Star Game starter 2 times, 3) been league MVP once. A team may only have one Designated Player on its roster at any time. I completely expect this to become known as the "Derrick Rose Rule."
My first thought about the Derrick Rose clause was that it might be Michael Heisley fucking with Reinsdorf. Grizzlies would be one of those franchises that could go either way on approving a new CBA and you wonder if they had some say in the provision.
While he certainly would have qualified, James wasn't coming off his rookie contract when he signed with the Heat. Actually, this new rule was nicely tailored to Durant's situation (homegrown superstar in small market), but KD signed with the Thunder anyway. Timing kinda sucks for him.
