NBA, NBPA AGREE TO NEW COLLECTIVE BARGAINING AGREEMENT, REPORTEDLY TABLING “ONE-AND-DONE” RULE CHANGE

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.

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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