Report: Revenue split between league, players to remain unchanged in new CBA

Perhaps the most significant and most pressing stipulation in the negotiations for a new NBA collective bargaining agreement has reportedly been resolved without being changed.

The mandated basketball-related income (BRI) split between the league's owners and its players will remain as it is under the current CBA, sources told The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski.

That means the players will continue to earn no less than 49 percent and no more than 51 percent of BRI each season, with the specific share dependent on the extent to which the league either falls short of or exceeds its annual revenue projection.

This crucial piece of bargaining - which was the biggest sticking point during the tumultuous 2011 negotiations - really could've gone one of two ways. With the massive new national TV deal (which kicks in this season) driving revenue and player salaries to heretofore unthinkable heights, the owners and players could've either decided there was too much money on the table to risk losing any of it (not to mention any of their accumulated fan goodwill) with a lockout, or that there was too much money on the table not to try grab as much of it as possible.

They appear to have opted for the former, deciding that there's plenty of pie to go around - certainly enough to keep everyone happy. In the 2011 lockout, the owners put the screws to the disorganized and increasingly desperate union, which was ultimately forced to capitulate and settle for the current revenue split. (The players had previously commanded a 57-percent share of BRI.)

But these negotiations, reportedly nearing completion well ahead of the Dec. 15 opt-out deadline for the current deal, have been infinitely more cooperative, suggesting that neither side wants to rock a boat that is sailing freely into uncharted waters.