Sports
NBA teams able to negotiate with their free agents 1 day after NBA Finals as part of new CBA: Sources – The Athletic
NBA
There will be a new change in the NBA/NBPA collective bargaining agreement starting in 2023-24: NBA teams will be able to begin discussions and negotiations with their own free agents one day after the final game of the NBA Finals in June, league sources tell The Athletic. Here’s what you need to know:
New change in NBA-NBPA collective bargaining agreement starting 2023-24: Teams will be able to begin talks/negotiations with their own free agents one day after final game of Finals in June – potentially weeks earlier than currently allowed, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 12, 2023
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
Not much. It at least acknowledges the reality that teams were already doing this, mostly under the guise of negotiating extensions to contracts that had not yet expired. Technically, teams could talk about literally anything except free-agency contracts with their own players before it officially began on June 30. It’s bizarre to accuse a team of “tampering” with its own player, though, and this takes that possibility off the table. — Hollinger
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The real game changer here would be to allow teams to begin free-agent discussions with players from other teams 48 hours after the draft ends, rather than the current charade of waiting until July 1. (Narrator: Nobody waits until July 1.)
While there is a slippery slope aspect to all of this because of the musical chairs game that is free agency, the post-draft days are all spent on free agency anyway in front offices. This would just acknowledge reality and help get the league out of the business of policing technical tampering investigations that, in the opinion of most execs, aren’t truly serious. — Hollinger
Sources briefed on the details of the negotiations previously shared some highlights of the new seven-year CBA deal, including:
The two sides had twice pushed back the deadline for a mutual opt-out date to March 31 and had hoped to get a new CBA in place before the start of the playoffs in mid-April.
National Basketball Players Association executive director Tamika Tremaglio told The Athletic in February that the new CBA was a top priority though also made it clear that the players union would be fine with continuing with the status quo for another season if need be as it considered whether to opt out.
The two sides had exchanged hundreds of proposals during the process, Tremaglio said at the time.
(Photo: AP Photo / Matt Rourke)
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