Amid reports that the NBA and the National Basketball Players Association had agreed on a seven-year extension of their collective-bargaining agreement, NBA commissioner Adam Silver clarified that while both sides are closer, a deal has not yet been reached.
The current collective bargaining agreement between the NBA and the NBPA runs through June 2021, with both sides holding the right until Dec. 15 to express an intent to opt out in 2017.
"The reports aren't far off, but we're not quite there, yet," Silver said Tuesday morning on ESPN's Mike & Mike. "I think we've had very productive meetings ... both sides came to the table with a spirit of partnership, with a sense that things are going very well in the league right now. As I just mentioned, we've had a huge influx of money because our new television deals and I think both sides understood that we would both be blamed if we screwed this up, given the amount of money we were dividing between the teams and the players.
"The conversations have been productive. We're not finished, yet, but I think we're close to an understanding on the key issues. There's a few weeks of negotiating left to happen, but I feel really good about it. I think Michele Roberts, who came in to run the players' association, I think she approached it the same way as her star players, you know, let's get down to business; let's focus on what's best for the league, for our fans, the players, so I'm fairly confident we're going to get that done in the next month."
Negotiations on the last CBA led to a five-month work stoppage that lasted until December 2011 and shortened the 2011-12 season by 16 games, marking only the second time in league history that a labor impasse led to a reduced schedule.
With the league in a healthy state and money flowing into the game at unprecedented levels, there is strong motivation on all sides to avoid a work stoppage this time around.