Silver on concern over potential 2017 lockout: 'I think it's premature'
NBA commissioner Adam Silver isn't blind to the fact that NBA players and owners will both have the option to back out of the league's current collective bargaining agreement after the 2016-17 season, but neither is he about to start fretting about a potential work stoppage so far in advance.
"Believe it or not - I can't speak for the union or anything - but it's not something I'm talking to teams about yet," Silver said recently, according to Candace Buckner of the Indianapolis Star. "I think it's premature."
Last week the players union officially kiboshed the league's cap-smoothing proposal, which would have seen the impending influx of TV money - the result of a new media rights deal, worth more than $2.6 billion per year staring in 2016 - parceled out gradually over several years.
Instead, the explosion of revenue will see a corresponding mega-spike in the salary cap just in time for 2016 free agency. With unprecedented money set to pour into the league and franchise valuations already exploding, it stands to reason that both players and owners will be preparing to dig in their heels in a fight for a larger share of basketball-related income, of which the players now split between 49 and 51 percent.
"We're operating under the current CBA and building stage," Silver said. "There will be a time for that but (now) it's premature."
The BRI split, along with other contentious issues like max contracts, a harder salary cap, the age limit, and the league's taxing schedule, are all expected to come to the fore in 2017.
"I'm not looking to reduce the length of the season," Silver said. "It's no secret, it's an economic issue for the league and the players if we were to cut the number of games in a season and I don't think that's the issue. Frankly, as I travel, people only want more NBA, not less NBA.
"We're going to look at everything but to me, in the first instance, we've got to look at how we can do a better job scheduling within the existing number of dates," Silver continued. "Then beyond that, should we be starting a little bit earlier? Can we go a little bit later? Those are also the kinds of things we can look at to try to stretch the season out a little bit."