Tentative deal moves NBA lockout closer to end

The NBA and representatives of what was formerly the National Basketball Players Association reached a tentative agreement early Saturday morning to end the league's 149-day lockout.

The league expects to open the season with a tripleheader on Christmas Day. Despite missing almost eight weeks of the season, the NBA is aiming to squeeze in a 66-game season for each team, which would require extending the regular season by approximately two weeks and condensing the playoffs. A typical NBA season begins about Nov. 1 and includes 82 games.

The 76ers are scheduled to open training camp Dec. 9 at the team's practice facility at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

"I was surprised about the news," the Sixers' Andre Iguodala said. "I'm not sure if guys are ready, because they were in limbo about when things would start. The biggest challenge is going to be dealing with injuries and how practice is handled. We can't go too hard in practice with so many games [in a shorter period of time]."

In recent seasons, the Sixers held camp at St. Joseph's University, but the last-minute timing and scheduling conflicts forced camp to the more low-key environment at PCOM.

The deal was reached about 3 a.m. and is pending approval of both the league's labor relations committee and the NBA board of governors - a collection of all 30 owners - as well as the players union, which must re-form to hold a vote among its 450 players.

To ratify the deal, a majority vote is needed from each side. Both NBA commissioner David Stern and players union chief Billy Hunter said they expect the agreement to be ratified and become the league's next collective bargaining agreement. The proposed 10-year deal would allow either side to opt out after the sixth year.

Stern said the agreement was "subject to a variety of approvals and very complex machinations, but we're optimistic that will all come to pass."

The full process is expected to take as long as 10 days.

"We thought it was in both of our interests to try to reach a resolution and save the game and to be able to provide the kind of superb entertainment the NBA historically has provided," Hunter said during a joint news conference early Saturday morning.

The NBA is scrambling to devise new schedules for each team. The Sixers will begin the abbreviated season on the road because their home arena, the Wells Fargo Center, is scheduled to host Disney on Ice shows during the last week of December.

On the league's original 2011-12 schedule, the Sixers were scheduled to play at the Sacramento Kings on Dec. 26 and remain on the road until Jan. 6, against the Detroit Pistons. It's unclear whether either of those games will be on the new schedule.

Because of the tight time line, the start of preseason camp will coincide with the start of free agency. During a typical NBA season, there is a lengthy free-agency period well before the start of training camp.

Once the Sixers sign first-round draft pick Nikola Vucevic, they'll have 12 players under contract. The NBA limit is 15 players. With the Sixers' current payroll at about $55 million - the salary cap is likely to be about $58 million - they will have very little flexibility during free agency.

One area of concern will be re-signing the team's two restricted free agents - forward Thaddeus Young and center Spencer Hawes. The Sixers have extended qualifying offers to both Young and Hawes, meaning they're two of the 12 currently under contract, but other NBA teams can extend either player an offer.

Under the proposed collective bargaining agreement, if another team signs Young or Hawes to an offer sheet, the Sixers will have only three days to match it. Under the old agreement, they had a week.

During the league's lockout, which began July 1, the players missed only their Nov. 15 paychecks, about one-twelfth of their yearly salary. For max-contract players such as the Sixers' Elton Brand and Iguodala, that was more than $1 million in pretax money.

The NBA owners entered the labor dispute fighting for a more even split of basketball revenue, saying they had lost about $400 million last season. Players had been guaranteed 57 percent of basketball-related income under the old deal. Also, the league said it wanted more "competitive balance," which it felt could be achieved with additional restrictions on how much each team spends.

The union disagreed, but ultimately the league achieved a victory on givebacks. The new deal's target is a 50-50 split. The league did not, however, achieve the exact "hard cap" system it desired.

At Saturday morning's news conference announcing their tentative settlement, both Stern and Hunter said they felt urgency to strike a deal because "others depend on us."

Some of those dependent others include employees at the Wells Fargo Center, whose hours have been slashed. In addition, every NBA game pours money into surrounding establishments such as hotels, restaurants, and bars.

"Our fans and the support from the people and [their] patience through a large part of this process - that's where a lot of this credit goes to," said the president of the former players union, Derek Fisher. "The efforts that have been made have been largely with them in mind."

Technically, Saturday's agreement was a "settlement" because each side had filed a lawsuit against the other. On Nov. 14, the union dissolved and filed an antitrust lawsuit against the NBA. Because the NBPA no longer exists, these latest talks were characterized as "settlement talks" and not "collective bargaining." The union, which became a trade association upon dissolution, hired high-profile lawyer David Boies, who represented the NFL during its lockout earlier this year.

Back-channel discussions between lawyers for the players and lawyers for the NBA began in earnest on Monday of last week, but weren't reported until Wednesday.

The players' split of basketball-related income will be between 49 and 51 percent, depending on the league's growth. If the league's revenues increase, the players' share could reach 51 percent. Under the previous agreement, the players received 57 percent.

Each team will pay an escalating luxury tax for each dollar spent above the salary cap, which is estimated to be about $58 million. Under the previous collective bargaining agreement, there was a dollar-for-dollar tax for each spent above the cap. Under the new CBA, the dollar-for-dollar tax will remain for the first two seasons. Then the penalties are harsher: $1.50 for each $1 spent up to $5 million over the cap, $1.75 for each dollar spent from $5 million to $10 million over cap, $2.50 for each dollar spent from $10 to $15 million over cap, and onward.

An "amnesty clause," which allows teams a onetime chance to wipe a player's contract from their payroll, is part of the proposed deal. Teams would still have to pay the player the full amount, but it wouldn't count against that team's salary cap. No such clause existed under the league's previous CBA.

One casualty of the labor talks was the proposed "Melo Rule," named after Carmelo Anthony's sign-and-trade deal last season from the Denver Nuggets to the New York Knicks. The owners wanted to eliminate sign-and-trades, which existed under the previous CBA, in order to keep star players from forcing their way out of a city. Under the tentative agreement, a player can sign only a three-year extension with a team before being traded.

Non-taxpaying teams can use a midlevel exception of $5 million per year for a contract length of up to four years. Taxpaying teams can use a midlevel exception of only $3 million per year for a contract length of three years. Under the old CBA, there was no distinction between how taxpaying and non-taxpaying teams could use the exception.

Additional numbers: There will be no reduction in minimum salary, and contract lengths will be five years (for players re-signing with their own teams) and four years (for players signing as free agents with new teams).

- Kate Fagan

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