Kyle Korver said there has been serious progress in labor talks between the NBA and the Players Association and that he would be “shocked” if there was a work stoppage by the league.
Korver serves on the player’s union Executive Committee. There have been recent accounts, first reported by Yahoo, that significant progress has been made in labor negotiations toward a new Collective Bargaining Agreement. The Hawks guard praised the work of NBA Commissioner Adam Silver and NBPA Executive Director Michelle Roberts throughout the process.
“I can say with Adam and Michele, they have both been total professionals throughout this,” Korver told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday. “They both want to get something done, try to get something done fairly. Both sides are trying to see the other side and come up with a fair deal. I think when you have two sides working well like this together, it’s going to happen. Is it going to happen this week? Is it going to happen this month? I don’t know. There is definitely hope it gets done quickly. You never say never until all the autographs are signed but I would be shocked, I would be shocked, if there is a work stoppage. I just don’t think it’s going to happen.”
The current CBA runs through 2021. However, both the league and the union can opt out of the deal by Dec. 15. That deadline accounted for anxiety that a work stoppage was possible.
“In terms of our present bargaining discussions with the players, I’d say they’re going very well and there’s been a great sense and spirit of cooperation across the table and desire to move forward,” Silver said at a press conference before the Rockets played the Pelicans in Shanghai.
The last NBA work stoppage was in 2011, the fourth lockout in league history. Owners began the work stoppage at the expiration of the 2005 CBA. The lockout lasted 161 days from July 1 to Dec. 8 and delayed the start of the regular season to Dec. 25 and cut the schedule to 66 games.
Korver said he does not feel the current state of the league puts undue concern on getting a new agreement.
“I think that everyone knows that,” he said of the health of league which includes a major television deal. “No one is saying we have to get this done (or else). Everyone knows there is enough to go around. I think the majority of the conversations are how do we make things cleaner? It’s been actual details of the CBA and not just ‘I want more money.’ There hasn’t been greed pushing the conversations. It’s been about doing the right thing. Because of that we are at where we are at.”
