NBAPA's Roberts optimistic a new deal can be reached without work stoppage
Even as business booms, the cloud of a potential NBA lockout in 2017 - when players and owners will be able to opt out of the current collective bargaining agreement - continues to hang over the league.
The specter of labor strife seems to be invoked any time a new issue is brought to the fore, from the (recently squashed) prospect of smoothing out the league's impending media rights windfall, to a potentially harder salary cap, draft lottery reform, the age minimum, scheduling and everything in between.
Commissioner Adam Silver said recently that he hasn't yet begun talking about future labor negotiations, calling fears about a work stoppage premature. NBAPA executive director Michele Roberts doesn't appear to share that particular view, but she does remain optimistic that the two sides can agree on a new deal in time for the 2017-18 season.
"We want a deal. We want a deal that is as fair as we can get," Roberts told Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. "We understand you've got to give a little to get a little. There’s going to be a deal and my view is let’s get it done. Silver has said the same to me, so I think the good news is we don’t have the backdrop of poverty. There's all this money.
"The game is growing in popularity. Everyone should be singing, 'Hallelujah.' They've got a new commissioner. I’m new. I have no bad blood with Adam because I don’t know him. Nor he with me. Everything in the world suggests we should be able to get through this without a problem. And if that doesn’t happen I would be, and I think Mr. Silver would be, disappointed."
In 2011 - the last time the league and players reached an impasse in CBA negotiations - David Stern was at the helm. With Silver now in charge, Roberts is approaching the impending proceedings with an open mind.
"I give the commissioner the benefit of the doubt," she said. "I believe he will try to get the best deal he can for the owners and I fully expect him to know that I will try to get the best deal I can for the players. That should not create hostility because as a lawyer I’ve always understood that my 'opponent' is representing (their) client the best they can, as I do."
Roberts has already indicated that the players will opt out of the current CBA in 2017. Unlike Silver, she's ready to start having conversations about what a new deal will look like.
"They can begin to happen very soon," she said, "and that’s our plan."