The 2020-2021 season of NBA, the North American basketball championship, will begin on December 22, the league confirmed on Monday evening, November 9. The latter let it be known that she had reached an agreement with the National Basketball Players Association (NBPA – “National Association of Basketball Players”), the players’ union, on the various terms of the takeover and on the financial terms.
“The NBA and the NBPA announce that they have reached an agreement in principle on the start of the 2020-2021 season, as well as adjustments to certain provisions of the current collective agreement affected by the Covid-19 pandemic”, details a joint press release from the two bodies. “This agreement must still be put to the vote of the board of directors of the league”, bringing together franchise owners.
72 regular season games
On Friday, the players voted in favor of the North American league plan, even if some would have preferred that the re-entry be around Martin Luther King Day – that is, January 18 -, so as not to resume too soon the path of the floors – last season’s finalists, Lakers and Heat, including playing until mid-October.
The game will therefore restart for them a little over two months later, Tuesday, December 22, but almost nine months later for eight clubs, including the Golden State Warriors, who had not been affected by the end of the previous championship, after its interruption on March 11.
Each team will play 72 regular season games, the schedule of which will be revealed in the coming weeks.
Payroll deductions up to 10%
The opening of the transfer market was set for November 20, two days after the Draft. This period of transactions should be extremely intense as the training camps will start only ten days later, from the 1er December.
On the financial level, the collective agreement has been modified, taking into account the negative impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on income related to basketball, the NBA having estimated a possible loss of income up to 40%, due to the absence of a ticket office, the matches to be played in camera until further notice.
Consequence: the two parties have agreed on a principle of deductions from players’ salaries up to 10% to cover losses over several seasons. If it is necessary to reduce salaries a little more, their loss will be spread over the coming season, as well as over the next two, knowing that players should never have to deplore a reduction of more than 20% of their salary. over a single season.
