Report: NBPA urging agents to read article on team audits, potential strike
On Tuesday, Deadspin published a detailed article about the upcoming issues between the NBA and the players' association, which are expected to be contentious.
The league quickly disputed most of the claims through it's communications department's Twitter feed, but on Thursday a report surfaced saying the union is instructing player agents to pay close attention to the article.
NBPA sent e-mail to agents urging them to read a Deadspin article on BRI and team audits. NBA shot down article in series of tweets.
— Jeff Zillgitt (@JeffZillgitt) May 14, 2015
To make a long story short, the hook of the Deadspin piece is that owners are in a position to manipulate what is defined in the collective bargaining agreement as Basketball-Related Income (BRI) through broadcast equity deals and the fact that some teams are owned by corporations that also own broadcasters.
Following the 2011 lockout - from which the owners emerged victorious - it was negotiated that BRI be split 50-50 between players and owners. Prior to that, the players received 57 percent.
As a result of this distrust, the NBPA told Deadspin they plan to utilize their right to audit up to five teams a year, a practice they have employed sparingly to date.
Given three factors - the 2016 jump in the NBA salary cap (and BRI) thanks to a record TV contract; the presence of new NBPA executive director Michele Roberts, a notoriously tough negotiator who replaced the compromised Billy Hunter; and the fact that both sides can opt out of the current CBA in 2017 - a player's strike at that time is more than possible.