NBA Still Uncertain About Players Wage

NBA is planning to pay the players their next paycheck on April 1, but they still haven’t committed to the next payments, due on April 15, as reported by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

Clearly, NBA is feeling the financial pressure. With the suspension of the league last week, NBA has lost the major chunk of its revenue in viewership, brand endorsements, and advertisements.

With no clarity on the future, the payment on April 1 could truly be a short term-plan for the league, the last for players in a long time. Typically, league contracts require the owners pay their players on the 1st and 15th day of the month. But with the suspension, the players should not expect the owners to bear losses and continue payment.

NBA to provide ‘additional guidance’

In another tweet, Adrian confirmed that the league will provide ‘additional guidance’ to teams on April 15th. He also mentioned applying the ‘Force Majeure’ which allows teams to diminish player pay rates in conditions like these (COVID-19).

Per Article XXXIX, section 5(a) of the CBA, ‘Force Majeure’ refers to an event that “makes it economically impracticable for the NBA to perform its obligations”. If applied then, the Force Majeure Period would cause a salary reduction of “1/92.6th of the player’s Compensation for the Season (s).”

Earlier this week, the NBA raised its credit line up to $1.2 billion from $650 million to help with the internal expenses during the pandemic. The league can achieve a cash flow through this plan.

The list of those affected by the coronavirus in the NBA is increasing day by day. First, it was Rudy Gobert and Devon Mitchell of Utah Jazz which led to the NBA suspension. Other NBA players include Pistons’ Christian Wood, one member of Nugget’, three individuals from Philadelphia 76ers and Boston Celtics’ Marcus Smart. Later Kevin Durant and three other Brooklyn Nets players also joined this ill-famed list with two LA Lakers players. Till now, eight of the league’s 30 teams have undergone team-wide testing. And four of those teams have had positive tests.