Nba Players’ Union, League Reach Deal In 11th Hour Now Its Up To The Players To Accept Or Vote To Dissolve Their Divided Union

The NBA and its players union reached agreement on yet another labor deal Tuesday night, but it must still be ratified by a divided union membership.

Now the players have a choice: accept the six-year deal or dissolve their union and try to win a better deal through the courts, potentially jeopardizing the start of the 1995-96 season.

“I think everyone will love it,” Houston’s Clyde Drexler said after more than 3-1/2 hours of negotiations.

In announcing the deal shortly before midnight, Commissioner David Stern, who locked out players on July 1, said passage would allow the 1995-96 season to start on time.

Both Stern and union leadership expressed optimism the deal will satisfy players whose opposition to an earlier agreement caused a deep rift among the membership and triggered a drive to abolish the players’ association.

“Our indications are that it won’t be a difficult sell,” Stern said.

The proposed six-year agreement eliminates the luxury tax, a sticking point with players in the previous agreement, and includes a $1 million exception for teams over the salary cap to sign free agents.

Also included are two additional exceptions to the salary cap: a provision under which teams can use 50 percent of an injured player’s salary to sign another player and one that permits a player who has completed two seasons with the same team to re-sign at double his salary.

In exchange, the union agreed to let the NBA reopen the contract after three years if salaries exceed a certain revenue percentage.

“We’re very happy the NBA met our concerns,” union president Buck Williams of the Portland Trail Blazers said. “We feel very fortunate that we could work out an agreement at 5 minutes, 10 minutes before midnight.”

The talks were a last effort to get a new deal before the union relinquished its authority as the players’ bargaining agent, a step union leadership said it would take by midnight unless there was an agreement.

Twenty-five players attended the meeting, including Utah’s John Stockton.

The vote on the new deal will be held along with a previously scheduled vote on decertification of the union. Players will either vote for the deal or for dissolving the union, union executive director Simon Gourdine said.

“We know there’s still a lot of work to be done and there are players who want to know what the deal is,” he said. “We have to let them know it’s a contract worthy of their support.”

The players at the meeting said they would urge their teammates to approve the deal.

Drexler said he believed there was much for players to like in the revised agreement.

“I still think it’s very fair,” he said. “Everything has been increased from the last deal.”

No vote was scheduled for team owners, and Stern indicated he would wait to call one until the players made their decision.

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