The NBA and National Basketball Players Association union agreed to a new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
But that’s not to say their constituents agreed.
Owners and players still needed to ratify the agreement.
One group down.
Jon Krawczynski and Tim Reynolds of the Associated Press:A new labor deal in the NBA is on the verge of being finalized, after owners voted Wednesday to approve a proposed seven-year collective bargaining agreement that was tentatively agreed to last week.
The owners’ vote was unanimous and players are expected to finish casting their ballots in the coming days, two people with direct knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. They spoke on condition of anonymity because neither the NBA nor the National Basketball Players Association has revealed specifics about the voting process publicly.
Teams met by teleconference on Wednesday to discuss and approve the proposed deal. Players were recently emailed information about the CBA from the union and were intending to have their ratification vote completed electronically by Friday, one of the people involved told AP.
This was mostly inevitable. With just 30 owners and everyone eager to keep the cash coming, NBA commissioner Adam Silver had a clear understanding of how to represent owners at the negotiating table.
With about 450 players in the league, they won’t be quite so united. But it’d still be shocking if they don’t also approve the deal. It could even be unanimous on their end. (Don’t confuse a unanimous vote, including the owners’, with unanimous approval. Sometimes, when dissenting voters know they’ll lose, they vote yes because they value a unified front over a protest vote.)
Really, the sides are just ratifying a term sheet. Even once that is approved, it must be turned into a legal document. But ratifying the actual CBA once the term sheet is approved is even more of a foregone conclusion than ratifying the term sheet.