"All Trades Must Meet League Approval"

[Cappy_Smurf]

Hello CBA experts. Haven't posted a question here in years, as I kind of stopped trying to keep myself well informed 2 CBAs ago. This board is a really underrated part of Realgm and could save a lot of bickering on the GB if more people understood the resources they have here. Thank you for being an important part of fans who want to understand.

Now, having kissed your back sides , I must pose a question that could make me look a fool. I must do it though, as I care more about the truth than being right.

There is currently a thread on the GB about the CP3 trade to the Lakers being nixed by David Stern. Comments have been made about Stern overstepping his authority, and I brought up the point that all trades must meet league approval. My understanding of the deal at the time, is that there are grey areas in the CBA that are either partially covered or not covered at all, which explains the language " All trades must meet league approval."

So my question is whether or not that is correct. Are there grey areas in which the commissioner has the authority to veto any trade, or are there specific regulations that govern any and all trades? Keep in mind I'd like answers that include current CBA rules, but more specifically, the rules that were relevant during the time Stern vetoed the CP3 to Lakers deal.

Thank you so much for your input.

[DBoys]

I'll start with something that should be obvious to your discussion, but apparently isn't. And it also sheds light on the core issue of that trade being killed.

The idea of "Stern overstepping his authority" is absurd. At the time, he was in the owner's role for that team, and any owner on any team has the bottom-line power to approve and disapprove anything the team proposes to do.

Stern's act of killing the deal wasn't one of the NBA stepping in as a league and overriding a deal, but rather one where the de-facto owner of a franchise stopped his team from doing something he felt was incredibly stupid.

As for whether trades have to meet league approval in some way or another, that is true. There is no such thing as a deal that happens without being sent to the league for approval. But the CP3 deal never got that far. It got killed by its owner.