Christmas Came Early: NBA LOCKOUT OVER
By Markus Garcia — 11/28/11
Christmas came early..well almost. After 149 days the NBA Lockout is expected to come to an end. Saturday the NBA owners and NBA Players tentatively agreed on a new CBA. However a majority of players and owners still need to approve the agreement. The vote is expected to pass for both sides.
In the new agreement the players will receive 51.2 percent of the Basketball related income and the owners will receive 49 percent. The New CBA agreement also includes an amnesty provision. This will allow any team to waive one of its players prior to the start of the NBA season. The player’s contract will not count towards the salary cap or the luxury tax. This new agreement is a 10 year deal, but has an option available to both sides after six years.
If the deal is ratified before Christmas the regular season is set to begin on Christmas Day and will consist of a 66 game season. The regular season is set to run through the month of April and would end only a few days later than if the season began on time.
Training camp and free agency is set to begin on December 9th. Teams will play 48 conference games and 18 out of conference games. Teams will play around two more games per month and could potentially play three games back to back, but no more than three times.
The NBA Playoffs may also be affected due to the condensed season. There is a possibility teams may have to play back to back games in the second round of the postseason.