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Sources: NBA, NBPA Working On Seven-Year CBA Extension, Mutual Opt-Out After Six

The NBA and NBPA are "working on a seven-year extension" to the CBA with a "mutual opt-out in six years," according to sources cited by Adrian Wojnarowski of THE VERTICAL. League sources said that the seven-year deal could "potentially deliver the NBA labor peace" through the '23-24 season, "unless the opt-outs are exercised" in '22. The sources added that the league and union have "agreed upon the major issues of the deal, and are finishing negotiations on smaller provisions within the deal" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 10/24). NBA Commissioner Adam Silver this morning said reports of an impending deal "aren't far off, but we're not quite there yet." He said the league and the NBPA have had "very productive meetings" and both sides "came to the table with a spirit of partnership." Silver: "Things are going very well in the league right now. We had a huge influx of money because of our new television deals, and I think both sides understood that we would both be blamed if we screwed this up, given the amount of money we were dividing between the teams and players." He added the sides are "close to an understanding on the key issues," but there are a "few weeks of negotiating left to happen." Silver: "I'm fairly confident we're going to get that done in the next month” ("Mike & Mike," ESPN Radio, 10/25).

THINKING OF EVERYONE
: SI.com's Jon Wertheim conducted an extensive Q&A with NBPA Exec Dir Michele Roberts and asked about revenue sharing being the key point in working out a CBA. Roberts said, "Some of what we have to argue about does involve dollars. ... But a great deal of what we have to negotiate about involves working conditions and health, life after basketball." Roberts added, "I'm not negotiating for guys that are going to be able to play for 20 or 30 years and continue to enjoy an income. That may not be the case for owners who can own their teams and enjoy that forever and then pass it on to their children." Wertheim noted there is a sense that the current CBA "did not go the players' way, certainly percentage-wise." Asked how much of her job was undoing some of the fallout from former NBPA Exec Dir Billy Hunter, Roberts said, "They went from having 57% of the income to a presumed 51%." She added, "The really bad taste was being locked out. I mean, these guys want to play ball." Roberts: "No question they got hosed. They certainly lost because of that shift in income. We're talking about $2 billion that used to be on the players' side of the aisle, it shifted to the owners' side." Roberts said what the NBPA is doing is "finding out ways to grow the pot such that ... teams could complain about profits being on the decline, that we could figure out a way to grow the pot such that we wouldn't have to take that kind of backseat again financially." Roberts: "It's taken some time to get some of the players onboard to appreciate that that loss does not mean that's what we can look forward to in the future" (SI.com, 10/24).

TRUE PARTNERSHIP: SI's Michael McCann wrote, "It is thought that the NBA-NBPA’s positive dynamic largely reflects the personalities" of Silver and Roberts. Both "realize that the NBA is doing extremely well and that it makes sense for all involved to continue that success without interruption." They are on "much better terms than were their predecessors," David Stern and Hunter in '11 (SI.com, 10/24). ESPN’s Mike Greenberg said the "dynamic that exists between the players and the ownership and the front office of basketball, that has been very positive. Look at the growth of that sport in the last couple of years.” ESPN's Ryan Clark said, "The NFL should definitely take a page out of this book.” Clark: "When have you ever heard Commissioner Goodell do an interview and say ‘working with the players’ that often and truly feel like he meant it?” (“Mike & Mike,” ESPN Radio, 10/25).

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