Basketball Wiretap

Details Emerging About How In-Season Tournament Will Work

Apr 8, 2023 11:45 AM

The NBA's long-wanted in-season tournament is coming. After being collectively bargained, the tournament could start as soon as next season.

Now, details are starting to emerge on how the tournament will be set up. Early tournament games will double-count as regular season matchups, as had been previously reported.

The teams will be divided within their own conference into six pools of five teams each. The pools will not necessarily be done to mirror the regular divisions. Those teams will play each other once (each team will play two home games and two road games).

The six teams that win each pool, plus two wild-card teams, will advance to the single-elimination portion of the tournament. Tiebreakers are still to be determined.

The four teams that advance to the semi-finals will play in a Final Four-style setup at a neutral site. The final will take place in similar fashion, at a neutral site.

As has been previously reported, the winners of the tournament will receive $500,000 apiece.

With the addition of the in-season tournament, each team will be initially scheduled 80 regular season games. As the tournament moves on, the teams that don't advance will have additional games added to their schedule to bring them up to 82 total games. Those games will run alongside the remaining tournament games. The two teams that advance to the tournament final will play 83 games.

Ben Rohrbach/Yahoo Sports

Tags: NBA, NBA Misc Rumor, NBA CBA

Discuss
65-Game Threshold For Awards Will Have Minimum Minutes Requirement

Apr 4, 2023 3:07 PM

The NBA has a few stipulations in its new 65-game requirement for postseason awards, according to reporting from ESPN's Baxter Holmes.

Players must play 20 minutes per game for it to count as a game except in two of the 65 games a player can play between 15 and 20 minutes and it will still count.

Two of the three primary candidates for MVP this season have yet to play in 65 games with Giannis Antetokounmpo at 62 and Joel Embiid at 64. Nikola Jokic has played in 67 games.

Baxter Holmes/ESPN

Tags: NBA, NBA CBA, NBA Award

Discuss
NBA, NBPA Held No Discussions On Reducing Supermax Contract If Player Requests Trade

Apr 4, 2023 12:41 PM

The NBA and NBPA did not hold any serious discussions about creating a provision where players on a supermax contract who request a trade lose the extra five percent of the cap. Zach Lowe called the concept the Ben Simmons rule, referring to his trade request from the Philadelphia 76ers while on the Rose rule rookie max. 

"I didn't even really hear a peep about it," said Lowe.

"No and I dug in on that," said Bobby Marks. Because I had been asked by a couple teams about that. If there were 200 items talked about, that wasn't [one of them]."

Players who sign a supermax contract are already ineligible to be traded for the first year after signing it. 

For a rule such as the one discussed by Lowe and Marks to be enforced, it would have to be proven that a player even requested a trade and that would likely mean these situations would go to arbitration. 

Zach Lowe, Bobby Marks/ESPN

Tags: NBA, NBA CBA

Discuss
NBA's $160M Licensing Revenue Will Now Be Included In BRI

Apr 3, 2023 1:25 PM

As part of the NBA's new collective bargaining agreement, revenue from licensing will be included in Basketball Related Income. Previously, the revenue was excluded from BRI and given only to the owners.

For the 23-24 season, licensing revenue is expected to be worth $160 million. This means players will receive approximately $80 million of that revenue.

The revenue total is expected grow in coming years and players will be incentivized to help in the area.

Adrian Wojnarowski, Bobby Marks/ESPN

Tags: NBA, NBA CBA

Discuss
NBA's 65-Game Minimum For Awards Considered 'Ceremonial Rule', Unlikely To Create Change

Apr 3, 2023 12:07 PM

The NBA is requiring a 65-game minimum for postseason awards as part of their new collective bargaining agreement. 

"To me, this is a ceremonial rule," said Adrian Wojnarowski on his podcast. "This is a 'Look, we're trying to do something. We're trying to show you we're doing something to curb load management. To impact all these lost games we're having with star players.

"I don't know this is going to change much behavior. I'm rolling my eyes a little bit at that one... I don't see this impacting star players playing in any more or less games than they would have before."

The broader issue is that the majority of games missed is due to injury, not load management. Load management is also largely dictated by teams rather than players.

Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN

Tags: NBA, NBA CBA, NBA Award

Discuss
NBA Sought Extra Rookie Scale Year From NBPA In Exchange For Lowering Age Rule

Apr 3, 2023 11:42 AM

The NBA and NBPA discussed the possibility of eliminating one-and-done and lowering the minimum age as part of their new collective bargaining agreement, but neither side felt passionate enough about the issue to push for it. 

In exchange for allowing high school players to enter the NBA directly, the NBA reportedly wanted an extra rookie scale year, which would delay when they can sign an extension or become a restricted free agent. 

"I think the league wanted the rookie scale to go another year so it would be another year before players could get their rookie extension or restricted free agency," said Adrian Wojnarowski. "That was something they obviously didn't get in talks, but I think was tied a little bit to one-and-done."

Under the current system, players can  sign an extension after Year 3 and become a restricted free agent after Year 4. If an extra rookie scale season was given, then they would have to wait until Year 4 to sign an extension and Year 5 to become a restricted free agent.

Part of the reason why there was less urgency from both sides on the issue is because it is no longer a moral one due to the increase in ways non-NBA players are able to earn income whether it is through G League Ignite, Overtime Elite or NIL.

Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN

Tags: High School, NCAA, NBA, NBA CBA

Discuss
Small Market Teams Were Worried Hard Cap Could Also Hurt Them

Apr 3, 2023 11:33 AM

The NBPA was adamant in their opposition to a hard cap, which was initially proposed by the owners but fairly quickly abandoned in negotations. There was some concern from small market teams how a hard cap could hurt them as much as the traditionally high payroll teams it would ostensibly be instituted to punish.

"Even what a lot of small market teams were worried about a hard cap in places, like let's say Cleveland, where all of a sudden you're good enough to win a championship," said Adrian Wojnarowski on his podcast. "You have a team and you're willing to go into the tax to keep that team together. Then all of a sudden with a hard cap and guaranteed contracts, the Cavs, using them as an example, or Oklahoma City four or five years from now, the smaller market teams worried 'This is going to work against us.'

"If Cleveland can't keep Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell. Or Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen. They have to pick one of them and one of those guys leaves and goes to a market, it defeats the purpose of why you wanted a hard cap to protect yourselves from Steve Ballmer spending or Joe Lacob spending and that didn't happen. That was off the table fairly early."

Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN

Tags: NBA, NBA Misc Rumor, NBA CBA

Discuss
Non-Max Rookie Scale Extension Allowed To Be 5 Years In New CBA

Apr 2, 2023 12:39 PM

Under the current CBA, when a player signed a rookie scale contract extension, there are some limitations. Players can only sign for five years, if they are signing a max extension. Non-max extensions have a limit of four years.

In the new CBA, teams will be allowed to offer a fifth year to players on a non-max extension. This is a valuable tool to aid in teams retaining their own drafted and developed players. Having the ability to give a fifth year to a non-max player should be a benefit with longer deals for more overall salary.

Bobby Marks/ESPN

Tags: NBA, NBA CBA

Discuss
Teams Above Second Tax Apron Will Have Further Restrictions In New CBA

Apr 2, 2023 9:49 AM

It had already been reported that in the new CBA that teams above the newly created second luxury tax apron would have restrictions on acquiring players. Those teams will lose the Taxpayer Mid-Level Exception and will be restricted to re-signing their own players, draft picks and players via the minimum exception.

In addition, there will be further restrictions on the NBA's most expensive teams. Those teams will not be able to send cash out in trades, trade first-round picks within a seven-year window and will not be able to sign players on the buyout market.

In addition, trade rules will be tweaked for those teams. Teams that are above the second tax apron, set at $17.5 million above the tax line, will not be able to receive more money in a trade than they send out.

That trade restriction could have impacted several recent high-profile deals. That includes Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns, Kyrie Irving to the Dallas Mavericks and James Harden to the Brooklyn Nets.

Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN

Tags: NBA, NBA CBA

Discuss
New NBA CBA Includes Cap Smoothing Provision

Apr 2, 2023 9:35 AM

In 2016, the NBA saw the salary cap spike from $70 million to $94.1 million as new TV rights deals kicked in. That caused a scenario where the 2016 free agent class received contracts that were out of balance with the rest of the league.

With the NBA set to sign new media rights deals in 2025, another cap spike was looming. In order to avoid another spike, the NBA and NBPA have agreed to cap smoothing in the new CBA.

The smoothing agreement will see cap increases limited to 10%, while pushing any additional percentage increase into subsequent years. By smoothing out the increases, that should provide more balance to free agent classes over multiple years.

Shams Charania/The Athletic

Tags: NBA, NBA CBA

Discuss
All-NBA Teams Will Be Positionless In New CBA

Shams Charania, Mike Vorkunov/The Athletic

Marijuana Eliminated From Anti-Drug Testing Program In NBA's New CBA

Shams Charania/The Athletic

Postseason Awards Will Have 65-Game Minimum In Next CBA

Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN

NBA, NBPA Loosen Extension Rules By Allowing Up To 140 Percent Increase

Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN

NBA's In-Season Tournament Approved In New CBA With Final Four Possibly In Vegas

Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN

Teams Will Receive Third Two-Way Contract Roster Spot Under New CBA

Shams Charania, Mike Vorkunov/The Athletic

Teams Over New 2nd Salary Cap Apron Will No Longer Have Taxpayer MLE

Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN

Sources With NBA, NBPA Share Optimism On State Of CBA Talks Ahead Of Deadline

Tim Bontemps/ESPN

NBPA Does Not Intend To Opt Out Of CBA, Will Be Disappointed If NBA Chooses That Option

Shams Charania/The Athletic

NBA Expects CBA Negotations With NBPA To Go Down To Wire Ahead Of Friday's Opt-Out Deadline

Tim Bontemps/ESPN

20 NBA Teams Received Combined $404M In Payments From 10 Highest Revenue Teams

Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN

Michael Jordan In Talks To Sell Majority Stake Of Hornets

Adrian Wojnarowski/ESPN

NBA, NBPA Discuss Minimum Games Played Requirement For Major Awards

Shams Charania/The Athletic