The NBA and the National Basketball Players Association announced Friday that they have come to an agreement about a plan to withhold 25 percent of each player’s paycheck starting May 15.
The agreement clears the way for a gradual reduction in players’ salaries that should the force major provision in the bargaining agreement enacted with the cancelation of regular-season games due to the spread of the coronavirus.
The plan is going to serve as a part of an escrow account that would return cash to the players should all the rest regular-season games be played when the season resumes. If not, teams would keep a percentage of the salary based on the cancelation of games.
If games don’t resume, players might lose from 23 to 26% of their season salary, depends on how many games their teams have played. The NBA and NBPA will decide to spread out the salary deductions into the first 4 pay periods of the 2020-21 season, through November and December, sources said.
The NBA has no plans to announce the cancelation of any regular-season games while the union has informed its players that the players might be able to know whether games are canceled and how many it could be at least after June 15, sources added.
The salary deductions would prevent a situation in which players might go some pay periods with no checks if the NBA canceled a majority or all of the rest regular-season games.
The NBA doesn’t want a situation where it has to pursue players for payment on canceled games.
The CBA maintains that players lose about 1% of salary for each canceled game, depending on the force majeure provision covering some catastrophic circumstances, including pandemics and epidemics.
Once there is a canceled game, the force majeure will be automatically triggered under the language of the CBA.