NBA commissioner Adam Silver doesn't expect a lockout to come to fruition in the next Collective Bargaining Agreement negotiations.
The December 15th deadline will mark the day the players' association will choose to exercise its opt-out clause, which will make the current agreement null by season's end.
The commissioner doesn't however anticipate the next round of negotiations to bring about a work stoppage at this point.
Silver spoke with Bloomberg, and says the league and the union have been having discussions, looking to work out a deal prior to the deadline.
While we and the union have agreed that we're not going to talk publicly about the substance of our discussions, neither side has made it a secret that we're talking and that the goal is, of course, to avoid any type of work stoppage whatsoever. I feel fairly confident that, based on the tone of these discussions thus far, based on the sense of trust and the amount of respect among the parties, that we should be able to avoid any kind of public labor issue and that the things we need to get done will get done behind closed doors.
Silver and NBPA executive director Michele Roberts, have been reserved to speak in public about the discussions but are both sounding as if there is hope things will get done in time to avoid a potential disaster.
The communication is very direct between Michele and me,. As a still relatively new head of the union, I think she is establishing herself, and it’s not for me to say what she should be saying publicly or otherwise. What I care most about is what is said across the bargaining table.
One of the more surprising bullet points that Silver feels he's willing to give up some ground on, is the the league's age minimum.
It's still something I care a lot about. I'm also a realist. Given that Michele has said her preference would be for an 18-year-old minimum age, my sense is that it's not something that's going to change in the short term. And by the way, I've always said I understand the other side of the issue, about a young man's opportunity to make a living. But my view has always been that we'd be a better league if players came into the draft at 20 instead of 19.
As long as the talks don't break down anytime soon, the chance of a lockout gets smaller, but there will be a new CBA deal next summer regardless of how the talks end.
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