Less than a week after the NBPA tentatively agreed upon NBA’s proposal for a 72-game regular season that would start on December 22, the league announced the negotiations had been officially agreed upon in full as of midnight on Tuesday.
In addition to the start date and the season length, the NBPA and NBA agreed the salary cap for 2020-21 will be the same as it was in 2019-20 at $109,140 million, as will the $132,627 million luxury tax level.
More importantly for the Brooklyn Nets, the NBA and NBPA agreed that in the event player compensation were to exceed the players’ designated share in any season, necessary salary reduction beyond the standard 10% escrow would be spread across that season and potentially beyond the following two seasons — with a 20% salary reduction in any season being the absolute maximum.
While Nets general manager Sean Marks was still expected to have money to spend on Joe Harris, this adds a little monetary relief for Nets governor Joe Tsai across the board.
ESPN‘s Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim Bontemps are also reporting another way in which the NBA is trying to “ease the tax burdens of teams that had been planning on the salary cap and luxury tax continuing to steadily rise.”
“…the NBA will reduce the luxury tax bill for teams at the end of the 2021 season by the percentage amount that the league’s Basketball Related Income declines from initial projections.”
The NBA and NBPA also free agency negotiations can officially start on November 20 at 6 p.m. EST and signings can happen at midnight EST on November 22.