The National Basketball Association (“NBA”) and players union, the National Basketball Players Association (“NBPA”) reportedly reached an agreement on ratifying a new Collective Bargaining Agreement (“CBA”) on March 31, 2023.1[1]Adrian Wojnarowski, NBA, NBPA agree on new 7-year collective bargaining agreement, ESPN.com (Apr. 1, 2023), https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/36025332/nba-nbpa-agree-new-7-year-collective-bargaining-agreement. The new CBA, which replaces a deal that was set to expire over the summer, has a seven-year term and a mutual opt-out after the sixth year, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.2[2]Id.
The new CBA is pending ratification by both players and team owners (known as governors), the respective union and league announced.3[3]See NBA And NBPA Reach Tentative Deal On New Collective Bargaining Agreement, NBPA.com (Apr. 1, 2023), https://nbpa.com/news/nba-and-nbpa-reach-tentative-deal-on-new-collective-bargaining-agreement-412023; Tim Reynolds, NBA, NBPA reach tentative deal for new 7-year collective bargaining agreement, NBA.com (Associated Press) (Apr. 1, 2023), https://www.nba.com/news/nba-and-nbpa-reach-tentative-deal-on-new-collective-bargaining-agreement.
https://twitter.com/NBAPR/status/1642059039847710720
While ratification is pending but expected, details of the new CBA leaked in the days following initial news of agreement.4[4]See Wojnarowski (expecting ratification by league players in coming weeks), supra note 1. This includes tabling a controversial suggestion to alter the age eligibility of NBA Draft entrants.5[5]Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojESPN), Twitter (Mar. 31, 2023, 1:02 PM), https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1641848553189277719.
On April 3, the Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment Law Blog published an article detailing how the league may be heading towards removing the “one-and-done” rule.6[6]Reid Goldsmith, Will The NBA End Its “One-And-Done” Rule In The Next Collective Bargaining Agreement?, BROOKLYN SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT LAW BLOG (Apr. 3, 2023), https://sports-entertainment.brooklaw.edu/sports/will-the-nba-end-its-one-and-done-rule-in-the-next-collective-bargaining-agreement/. The rule, installed since the 2005 CBA, limits American players to enter the draft at nineteen years old or at least one year removed from their high school’s graduating class.7[7]Id.; see also Tom Ziller, A complete primer on drafting international NBA prospects, SB NATION (June 25, 2014) https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/6/25/5820488/nba-draft-2014-international-prospects-dante-exum-dario-saric. The rule has led to nearly every top draft selection being a high-profile college star competing for a single season in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”).8[8]Goldsmith, supra; see also Draft History, NBA.com, https://www.nba.com/stats/draft/history; Aaron Dodson, All the NBA draft’s one-and-done lottery picks: a scorecard, ANDSCAPE (June 22, 2017). Most recently, those number-one picks have been Paolo Banchero (Duke), Cade Cunningham (Oklahoma State), Anthony Edwards (Georgia), and Zion Williamson (Duke).9[9]Draft History, supra. No concrete plan emerged despite confidence in changing the age limit.10[10]Tim Bontemps, Adam Silver, NBPA chief say new CBA ‘absolutely a priority’, ESPN.com (Feb. 18, 2023) https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35690889/adam-silver-nbpa-chief-say-new-cba-absolutely-priority.
Last Friday, ESPN’s Wojnarowski tweeted the pending-ratification CBA would not include “chang[ing] the minimum draft age rule . . . .”11[11]Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojESPN), Twitter (Mar. 31, 2023, 1:02 PM), https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1641848553189277719. Despite compelling reasons to move back to the “prep-to-pros” era (high school athletes leap-frogging into the NBA), the league and players could not come to an agreement on eligibility restrictions.12[12]Jeff Zillgitt, NBA’s one-and-done rule will stay in next collective bargaining agreement, USA TODAY (Mar. 31, 2023), https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2023/03/31/nba-one-and-done-rule-stay-next-collective-bargaining-agreement/11579194002/. Previously, NBPA Executive Director Tamika Tremaglio described the burden on veteran players should the age limit be reduced back down to eighteen or high school graduation.13[13]Goldsmith, supra. While the burden is well-founded, NBA clubs have made good use of the G League in the time between the end of the prep-to-pros and the one-and-done eras.14[14]Id. The G League has led to several success stories in development without inhibiting compensation to athletes instilled with professional goals, unlike players toiling in the NCAA.15[15]Id.
https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1641848553189277719
However, with the NCAA’s new name, image, and likeness (“NIL”) policy loosening, college athletes have begun to lawfully receive monetary compensation while still competing as “amateurs” at colleges and universities.16[16]Kris Rhim, The Endorsement Deals Shaping the N.C.A.A. Tournaments, THE NEW YORK TIMES (Apr. 2, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/02/sports/ncaabasketball/nil-deals-ncaa-tournament.html; see also National Collegiate Athletics Ass’n v. Alston, 141 S. Ct. 2141 (2021) (holding the NCAA violating antitrust legislation). Perhaps NIL has temporarily prevented the NBA from permitting college-freshmen-aged players from joining its ranks considering lawful payments reaching teenagers’ pockets—previously only available to college coaches (many of whom, at public institutions, were their respective state’s highest-paid employees).17[17]Samuel Stebbins, College coaches dominate list of highest-paid public employees with seven-digit salaries, USA TODAY (Sept. 23, 2020), https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/09/23/these-are-the-highest-paid-public-employees-in-every-state/114091534/.
One key addition to the 2023–2024 CBA is a “second salary-cap apron” for luxury tax-paying teams.18[18]Shams Charnia & Mike Vorkunov, NBA and NBA Players Association reach tentative deal on new collective bargaining agreement, THE ATHLETIC (Apr. 1, 2023), https://theathletic.com/4370686/2023/04/01/new-nba-cba-agreement/. The “luxury tax” is a colloquialism referring to penalties teams pay when they exceed the salary cap, the maximum allowance to spend on player contracts.19[19]Brandon S. Ross, Note: The NBA’s New Media Rights Deal: A Look Into The Multi-Billion Dollar Cause Of What May Become The Next NBA Lockout, 33 HOFSTRA LAB. & EMP. L.J. 291, 295 n. 25 (2016). High-spending teams surpassing the second apron would forfeit the “mid-level exception,” an important salary-cap tool for competitive teams to carve out depth on their rosters.
Moreover, other stand-out terms of the new CBA include instituting an in-season tournament figuring into the eighty-two-game NBA season; setting eligibility for major individual awards at sixty-five or more games; no longer penalizing players for marijuana use; and giving players the ability to promote betting companies.20[20]Id.
Barring any issues at the coming meetings for the NBA governors and players, the CBA ratification will bring labor peace for at least the next six seasons.21[21]See Wojnarowski (expecting ratification by league players in coming weeks), supra. Who knows what innovations in basketball will affect the tenor of CBA negotiations in the future.
Written By: Reid Goldsmith
Reid is a 2025 J.D. Candidate at Brooklyn Law School
1 Adrian Wojnarowski, NBA, NBPA agree on new 7-year collective bargaining agreement, ESPN.com (Apr. 1, 2023), https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/36025332/nba-nbpa-agree-new-7-year-collective-bargaining-agreement.
2 Id.
3 See NBA And NBPA Reach Tentative Deal On New Collective Bargaining Agreement, NBPA.com (Apr. 1, 2023), https://nbpa.com/news/nba-and-nbpa-reach-tentative-deal-on-new-collective-bargaining-agreement-412023; Tim Reynolds, NBA, NBPA reach tentative deal for new 7-year collective bargaining agreement, NBA.com (Associated Press) (Apr. 1, 2023), https://www.nba.com/news/nba-and-nbpa-reach-tentative-deal-on-new-collective-bargaining-agreement.
4 See Wojnarowski (expecting ratification by league players in coming weeks), supra.
5 Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojESPN), Twitter (Mar. 31, 2023, 1:02 PM), https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1641848553189277719.
6 Reid Goldsmith, Will The NBA End Its “One-And-Done” Rule In The Next Collective Bargaining Agreement?, Brooklyn Sports & Entertainment Law Blog (Apr. 3, 2023), https://sports-entertainment.brooklaw.edu/sports/will-the-nba-end-its-one-and-done-rule-in-the-next-collective-bargaining-agreement/.
7 Id.; see also Tom Ziller, A complete primer on drafting international NBA prospects, SB Nation (June 25, 2014) https://www.sbnation.com/nba/2014/6/25/5820488/nba-draft-2014-international-prospects-dante-exum-dario-saric.
8 Goldsmith, supra; see also Draft History, NBA.com, https://www.nba.com/stats/draft/history; Aaron Dodson, All the NBA draft’s one-and-done lottery picks: a scorecard, Andscape (June 22, 2017).
9 Draft History, supra.
10 Tim Bontemps, Adam Silver, NBPA chief say new CBA ‘absolutely a priority’, ESPN.com (Feb. 18, 2023) https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/35690889/adam-silver-nbpa-chief-say-new-cba-absolutely-priority.
11 Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojESPN), Twitter (Mar. 31, 2023, 1:02 PM), https://twitter.com/wojespn/status/1641848553189277719.
12 Jeff Zillgitt, NBA’s one-and-done rule will stay in next collective bargaining agreement, USA TODAY (Mar. 31, 2023), https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nba/2023/03/31/nba-one-and-done-rule-stay-next-collective-bargaining-agreement/11579194002/.
13 Goldsmith, supra.
14 Id.
15 Id.
16 Kris Rhim, The Endorsement Deals Shaping the N.C.A.A. Tournaments, The New York Times (Apr. 2, 2023), https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/02/sports/ncaabasketball/nil-deals-ncaa-tournament.html; see also National Collegiate Athletics Ass’n v. Alston, 141 S. Ct. 2141 (2021) (holding the NCAA violating antitrust legislation).
17 Samuel Stebbins, College coaches dominate list of highest-paid public employees with seven-digit salaries, USA TODAY (Sept. 23, 2020), https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2020/09/23/these-are-the-highest-paid-public-employees-in-every-state/114091534/.
18 Shams Charnia and Mike Vorkunov, NBA and NBA Players Association reach tentative deal on new collective bargaining agreement, The Athletic (Apr. 1, 2023), https://theathletic.com/4370686/2023/04/01/new-nba-cba-agreement/.
19 Brandon S. Ross, Note: The NBA’s New Media Rights Deal: A Look Into The Multi-Billion Dollar Cause Of What May Become The Next NBA Lockout, 33 Hofstra Lab. & Emp. L.J. 291, 295 n. 25 (2016).
20 Id.
21 See Wojnarowski (expecting ratification by league players in coming weeks), supra.