News from January 6. There will be some NBA basketball!!! NBA commissioner David Stern and Players Association executive director Billy Hunter started a negotiating session at about 8 pm ET Tuesday night and reached an agreement on a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) at about 6 am Wednesday morning. It is a 6 year contract with a 7th year at the league's option. By a vote of 179-5 the Players Association ratified the new CBA on Wednesday. The owners will vote on the new CBA today (Thursday) and are expected to approve it. It will take 7 to 10 days for the new CBA to be written down and signed (it is big legal document). The lockout will officially end when the new CBA is signed. A two week training camp for the teams is scheduled to start January 18. Teams may begin signing free agents and make trades on that date. The 1998-99 season will start February 2 and will contain 52 games, ending in late April. A new schedule will be created for the season. The playoffs will start May 1 and may extend into early July. The following are some of the details for the new CBA: Minimum salaries: player experience salary rookie $287,500 1 year $350,000 2 years $425,000 3 years $450,000 4 years $475,000 5 years $537,500 6 years $600,000 7 years $662,500 8 years $725,000 9 years $850,000 10+ years $1,000,000 Maximum player salaries: player experience salary (which ever amount is greater) 1-5 years $9,000,000 or 25% of team's salary cap 6-9 years $11,000,000 or 30% of team's salary cap 10+ years $14,000,000 or 35% of team's salary cap there is a Grandfather clause where a player re-signing with his own team can re-sign for 105% of his previous contract Maximum salary increases in each year of a contract: 12% for players re-signing under the Larry Bird exception 10% for all others No opt-out clauses in the first 5 years of a contract. Performance bounces are limited to 25% of the value of a contract. There are two salary exceptions that teams can use to sign free agents, even if they are over the salary cap Average exception: year of the CBA salary year 1 (98-99) $1,750,000 year 2 (99-00) $2,000,000 year 3 (00-02) $2,250,000 years 4-7 league average from the previous season [note: the average exception can be spilt among more than one player] Median exception: year of the CBA salary year 1 (98-99) $1,000,000 year 2 (99-00) $1,100,000 year 3 (00-02) $1,200,000 years 4-7 league median from the previous season First round draft picks are still signed to 3 year contracts based to average of the past picks at the same number they were selected, but there will be a different percentage of salary increases for players drafted #1-9, #10-19, and #20-29. The team will have a 4th year option to the player and the player will be a restricted free agent after the 5th year (restricted free agency means that other teams can make a contract offer to the player, but the original team can match that offer and keep the player). For the first 3 years of the CBA, there is no limit of the percentage of the basketball related income (BRI) that the players may receive. In years 4, 5, and 6, the maximum amount of BRI that the players can receive is 55%. For year 7, the maximum is 57%. If the total of all players' salaries exceeds that amount, then a 10% escrow tax will be incurred on the players. Salary cap for the first 3 years of the CBA: 98-99 $30 million 99-00 $34 million 00-01 $35.5 million Teams will be allowed to sign and then turn around and trade the player if the signed contract is for 3 years or more. All players will be drug tested once a season. Marijuana and illegal steroids were added to the banned substances list. There are tougher player discipline penalties and conduct rules [but I haven't seen the details for this]