It looks like there would not be a lockout in the National Basketball Association (NBA) in the near future. The National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) has completed its voting process approving the next collective bargaining between the players in the league while the NBA's Board of Governors has also voted unanimously for the approval of the agreement.
The only thing to do to make the deal happen is for both the NBA and the NBPA to sign the deal. It will be finalized as soon as the actual document are signed and filed, as reported by the Los Angeles Times.
It could be remembered that five years ago, the NBA experienced its fourth lockout in league history after both parties failed to meet in the middle in issues of division of revenue and the structure of salary cap and luxury tax. The 2011 NBA lockout delayed the 2011-2012 season from November 1 to Christmas Day and the games were reduced to 66 games instead of the original 82 games.
The deal would last for seven years with both parties having the choice of opting out after the sixth year. The agreement will take effect on the first of July next year, the time when the NBA's Summer League is already running, up to the 2023-2024 NBA season.
In a report by FOX Sports, the new CBA will retain the 51%-49% partition of basketball-related income. Also, rookie scale salaries, veteran minimum salaries and certain free-agent salary exceptions, including the mid-level exception, will rise by approximately 45 percent.
The retired players are also included in the deal as they receive better medical care.Union president Chris Paul, who was just 25 during the 2011 NBA lockout, said that he remembers "how ugly it got back in 2011" and said he now feels involved now that he is the president of the NBPA.
The timeline of the completion of the process is yet to be done and that might take time with the intricacy of the details in the agreement. Meanwhile, Christmas Day in the NBA is done and the league is heading into 2017.